Prison Inc.: The Secret Industry

Source: Online-Paralegal-Degree.org There are 2.3 million people living behind bars in the United States ● The US prison system costs the federal government $55 billion every year

PRISON VS. JAIL

● Jails are locally-operated facilities that hold inmates for a short period of time ● Prisons are long-term facilities run by the state or federal government

PRISON: A GROWING INDUSTRY

Between 1990 and 2010, the number of privately operated prisons in the US increased 1600% ● Private prisons bring in roughly $3 billion in revenue every year ○ Over half of this comes from holding facilities for undocumented immigrants ■ Private prisons run over 50% of detainment facilities for immigrants

BIG BUSINESS

Two of the biggest private prison companies in the country, Corrections Corporation of America and The GEO Group, made $3.3 billion in annual revenue in 2012. ● These two companies make up 75% of the private prison industry ○ CCA operates 67 prisons in the US ○ GEO Group operates 95 prisons in the U.S. and abroad Cheap Labor The prison industry makes money by contracting prison labor to private companies ● This includes ○ Starbucks ○ Boeing ○ Victoria’s Secret ○ McDonald’s ○ Prisoners work in apparel, document conversion, call centers, printing and clean energy ● A single prisoner’s labor is worth between 93 cents and $4 a day The Government Paycheck ● “Lockup Quotas”: Contracts guarantee that prison occupancy rates will stay at or above a specified level ● “Low-Crime Taxes”: If occupancy rates are not fulfilled, the government must pay for the empty beds ● In contracts with the government, some private prison companies demand minimum occupancy levels of more than 0% Price Per Prisoner Average annual cost for correction expenses per inmate ● The national average for correction expenses per inmate was $28,323/year in 2010 ● Harvard’s full-time tuition cost per year is $40,016 ● In 2012, New York City spent almost $168,000 per inmate in food, housing and security ○ of that comes from taxpayer money to read more: http://www.online-paralegal-degree.org/prison-industry/