4 ms·

Yep, though not as illegally done. The for-profit prison industrial complex spends millions of dollars lobbying for lengthier prison sentences. Every bed they

Yep, though not as illegally done. The for-profit prison industrial complex spends millions of dollars lobbying for lengthier prison sentences. Every bed they fill is money the state pays them. Prisons pay politicians to get beds filled for lengthier times, so they can make more money from the states that convict and send them prisoners. It's a disgusting immoral racket.

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JoeAltmaier 12y ago
I'm not finding anything online about what money private prison lobbyist spend on tougher sentencing. Folks claim 'millions of dollars' but this could just be hot air. Any references?
- warfangle 12y ago
  CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) has scaled down their lobbying in past years; it peaked in '05 with $3.38m. Since '04, they've spent $2.3 million in campaign contributions and $21 million in lobbying [0]. The GEO group spends much less (but they are global, serving Australia, South Africa & the UK as well): $1.143 million in campaign contributions and $3.56 million in lobbying since '04 [1]. 0. http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000021940 http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000021940 1. http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000022003&cycle=A http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000022003&cy...
  - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
    Well, lobbying for private corrections is a different animal that lobbying for harsher sentencing. Without understanding where the dollars went, its hard to paint them with the evil brush.
    - warfangle 12y ago
      The point is, simply by having both 1) lobbying by for-profit corrections and 2) the ability to influence sentencing guidelines with lobbying money create a significant moral hazard. They don't even have to specifically lobby for tougher sentencing - they can just contribute to choice A of [A,B], where A is the candidate pushing for harsher sentences.

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JoeAltmaier 12y ago

I'm not finding anything online about what money private prison lobbyist spend on tougher sentencing. Folks claim 'millions of dollars' but this could just be hot air. Any references?

warfangle 12y ago
CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) has scaled down their lobbying in past years; it peaked in '05 with $3.38m. Since '04, they've spent $2.3 million in campaign contributions and $21 million in lobbying [0]. The GEO group spends much less (but they are global, serving Australia, South Africa & the UK as well): $1.143 million in campaign contributions and $3.56 million in lobbying since '04 [1]. 0. http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000021940 http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000021940 1. http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000022003&cycle=A http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000022003&cy...
- JoeAltmaier 12y ago
  Well, lobbying for private corrections is a different animal that lobbying for harsher sentencing. Without understanding where the dollars went, its hard to paint them with the evil brush.
  - warfangle 12y ago
    The point is, simply by having both 1) lobbying by for-profit corrections and 2) the ability to influence sentencing guidelines with lobbying money create a significant moral hazard. They don't even have to specifically lobby for tougher sentencing - they can just contribute to choice A of [A,B], where A is the candidate pushing for harsher sentences.