Cage Complex
Why is America’s prison population soaring?
JANUARY 21, 2014
by WENDY MCELROY
The United States leads the world, by a large
margin, in the production of at least one thing:
prisoners. We have
<http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/08/economist-explains-8>25
percent of the world's inmates, but just 5 percent of the world's population.
Where do they come from? Well, since the
Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, the number of
American inmates has risen from approximately
300,000 to a
<http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/wp-content/themes/gcdp_v1/pdf/Global_Com_Bryan_Stevenson.pdf>currently
estimated 2.3 million. This statistic points to
the role of drug-related victimless “crime” in creating prisoners.
There are other sources. The “private prison
complex” is a creation of crony capitalism
through which privileged corporations are paid
well for the “care” of inmates and for leasing
out prison labor to other businesses.
Ten percent of American prisons are now
“privately” operated, for-profit businesses.
Between 1990 and 2010, the number of for-profit
prisons
<https://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/banking-bondage-private-prisons-and-mass-incarceration>rose
1600 percent, far outpacing the growth of public
ones or the population at large. The likelihood
of being arrested is already higher in America
than anywhere else in the world. That likelihood
will rise if the financial incentives to imprison
more people continue or increase.
“Private” Prisons Insult Real Privatization
Privatization involves a transfer of ownership
and control from the State to a private entity; a
post office or public lands are commonly used
examples. In a free market, a privatized business
competes for customer dollars without any legal
advantages or other privileges. Under crony
capitalism, the “privatized” business enjoys
legal privileges and other advantages such as tax funding.
“Private” prisons are run by corporations to
which government outsources the care of inmates.
The corporation receives X tax dollars for each
prisoner, quite apart from the actual cost of
care. This builds in an incentive to skimp on
services such as food and medical care. And,
indeed, most prison contracts include a
“low-crime tax” or “lock-up quota.” This system
means taxpayers compensate the corporation for
empty cells if the number of prisoners falls
below a set quota. A recent report,
“<http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/article/criminal-how-lockup-quotas-and-low-crime-taxes-guarantee-profits-private-prison-corporations>Criminal:
How Lockup Quotas and 'Low-Crime Taxes' Guarantee
Profits for Private Prison Corporations,” found
the average “occupancy guarantee” to be 90
percent; in four states, it is between 95 percent
and 100 percent. Thus the “private” prison is guaranteed a tax-funded profit.
Prisoners’ labor is also leased out to government
agencies or to major corporations. Prison labor
reportedly produces 100 percent of military
helmets, shirts, pants, tents, bags, canteens,
and a variety of other equipment. Prison labor
makes circuit boards for IBM, Texas Instruments,
and Dell. Many McDonald's uniforms are sewn by
inmates. Other corporationsMicrosoft, Victoria's
Secret, Boeing, Motorola, Compaq, Revlon, and
Kmartalso
<http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-pentagon-and-slave-labor-in-u-s-prisons/25376>benefit
from prison labor.
The “private” prison industry is private in the
same sense that crony capitalism is capitalist.
Namely, not at all. It is the antithesis of a
truly private industry that competes in the free
market, does not accept tax funds, and cannot
compel labor. By contrast, the “private” prisons
enjoy a monopoly over a service that is created
by laws and sentencing policies. They receive tax
money and preferential treatment. They exploit
captive labor through circumstances similar to plantation slavery.
In an article titled
“<http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-united-states-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery/8289>The
Prison Industry in the United States: Big
Business or a New Form of Slavery?” (Dec. 8,
2013) by Global Research, the authors describe
the advantages of leasing prison labor.
They don’t have to worry about strikes or paying
unemployment insurance, vacations or comp time.
All of their workers are full-time, and never
arrive late or are absent because of family
problems; moreover, if they don’t like the pay of
25 cents an hour and refuse to work, they are
locked up in isolation cells. [Note: payment
rates vary and are cited as high as $2 an hour.]
The beneficiaries of “private” prisons are the
government entities that claim to save money
through outsourcing, the politicians who
facilitate the contracts, the “private” prison
corporations, and the corporations who lease prison labor.
The victims of “private” prisons are the coerced
workers and the true private sector, because the
corporations that lease extremely cheap prison
labor can undercut their competitors. The
tractor-trailer division of Lufkin Industries in
Texas provides a dramatic illustration. Its
competitor, the Direct Trailer and Equipment Co.,
began to offer the same basic product for about
$2,000 less than Lufkin. It could do so because
it enjoyed both prison labor and state subsidies;
for example, Direct Trailer paid a nominal fee
($1 a year) to use manufacturing facilities
within the prison compound. Lufkin's division
went out of business, laying off 150 people
because they
<http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Prison-labor-drives-Lufkin-factory-out-of-business-1779426.php>could
not outcompete prison labor.
Incentives to Increase the Prison Population
Louisiana, too, is instructive. A Times-Picayune
article,
“<http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/05/louisiana_is_the_worlds_prison.html>Louisiana
Is the World's Prison Capital,” reported, “The
state imprisons more of its people, per head,
than any of its U.S. counterparts. First among
Americans means first in the world. . . . The
hidden engine behind the state's well-oiled
prison machine is cold, hard cash. A majority of
Louisiana inmates are housed in for-profit
facilities, which must be supplied with a
constant influx of human beings or a $182 million industry will go bankrupt.”
One in 86 adults in Louisiana is doing time. The
article hints at the reason: the entanglement of State and crony enterprise.
In a uniquely Louisiana twist, most prison
entrepreneurs are rural sheriffs, who hold
tremendous sway in remote parishes. . . . A good
portion of Louisiana law enforcement is financed
with dollars legally skimmed off the top of
prison operations. If the inmate count dips,
sheriffs bleed money. Their constituents lose
jobs. The prison lobby ensures this does not
happen by thwarting nearly every reform that
could result in fewer people behind bars.
These and similar incentives have created “the
prison-industrial complex.” In 2008, the human
cost of the complex was starkly revealed in what
was called the
“<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal>kids
for cash scandal.” The private prison company
Mid-Atlantic Youth Services Corp. ran juvenile
facilities in Pennsylvania. Two judges were found
guilty of pocketing $2.6 million for sending
approximately 2,000 children to the facilities.
Even first-time offenders were given harsh
sentences for trivial offenses such as mocking a
principal on social media. Several hundred of the
judges' convictions were overturned. But
expunging records could not help a traumatized
child, a first-time offender, who committed suicide.
How Did “Private” Prisons Gain Such a Foothold?
Corporations have a long history of providing
specific services, such as food preparation, to
prisons. This tradition stretches back to well
before the drug war. During the early 1980s
recession, prison overcrowding spiked and tax
revenue declined, opening the door to expansion.
In 1984, the Corrections Corporation of America
(CCA) assumed total control of a Tennessee
detention facility. This was the first such contract in the United States.
Prisons have continued to face the same dilemma:
overcrowding, scarce funding, and employee
cutbacks. The Times-Picayune describes
Louisiana's response: “In the early 1990s, when
the incarceration rate was half what it is now,
Louisiana was at a crossroads.” The state was
court ordered to correct overcrowding. There were
two choices: fewer inmates or more prisons. The
state chose the latter by “encouraging sheriffs
to foot the construction bills in return for
future profits. The financial incentives were so
sweet, and the corrections jobs so sought after,
that new prisons sprouted up all over rural Louisiana.”
The inmate population has soared since.
Backlash
A backlash is underway and some opponents speak with powerful voices.
For example, labor unions decry prison work. The
pressure is having an effect. Some states, like
Nevada, are considering legislation to require
“oversight and transparency” for “private”
prisons. Other states have been shaken by reports
of cost-cutting measures taken by private prison
corporations. The ACLU
<https://www.aclu.org/blog/prisoners-rights/states-should-run-screaming-cca-avoid-dangerous-and-disgusting-prisons>reported
on one such prison in Ohio:
The compliance rating [with state standards]
plummeted from the 97.3 percent compliance . . .
when publicly-owned to 66.7 percent. Auditors
found outrageous violations like prisoners being
forced to use plastic bags for defecation and
cups for urination because they had no running
water for toilets. Basic conditions were heinous,
with black mold, standing water, and spoiled food
found throughout the prison. . . . [T]he medical
department is grossly understaffed and many prisoners go untreated.
Meanwhile, the private prison complex is
entrenched. It wields lobbying clout, as do the
corporations that lease prison labor.
The large “private” prison corporation, the
Corrections Corporation of America, is unabashed
about its plans. The 2010 CCA Annual Report
<http://books.google.ca/books?id=zA9VB--EDUsC&lpg=PA247&ots=uSPdp3GV3I&dq=%20percentE2%20percent80%20percent9CWe%20believe%20we%20have%20been%20successful%20in%20increasing%20the%20number%20of%20residents%20percent22&pg=PA247#v=onepage&q&f=false>stated,
“We believe we have been successful in increasing
the number of residents [prisoners] in our care
and continue to pursue a number of initiatives
intended to further increase our occupancy and
revenue.” Translated from corporate speak: They
plan on nabbing many more people and locking them up.
Reform
A giant step toward reducing overcrowding and the
perceived need for outsourcing prisons would be
to stop arresting non-violent “criminals.”
Another big step would be to require criminals
who damage or steal property to pay restitution
to their victims rather than be punished by incarceration.
Unfortunately, there is no profit to the State
nor to crony corporations in those solutions. In
the foreseeable future, the prison population of
America will grow, with minor infractions drawing lengthy jail terms.
Police states are the mother of prison complexes.
Whatever solutions arise will come from shining
the harsh light of reality upon both.
<http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/cage-complex#ixzz2rVzNWwM4>http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/cage-complex#ixzz2rVzNWwM4
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