Progressive (http://www.progressive.org)
Submitted
by Scout on Fri, 01/22/2016 - 9:12am
·
Brandon Weber [2]
Photos
by Jeff Djevdet [3] and Pixabay [4]
Private
corporations make money at almost every step of our justice and prison systems,
from processing fines to monitoring ankle bracelets and drug testing. And
they make a lot of it [5]. The group In the Public Interest [6] ( [6]IT [6]PI [6]), has just compiled a list:
Global
Tel-Link provides phone and video call services to 2,400 federal, state, and
local correctional facilities, a total of 1.3 million prisoners.
Three
companies provide prescription drugs to over one million prisoners: Correct Rx,
Diamond Pharmacy Services, and Maxor Correctional Pharmacy Services.
Aramark
serves 380 million meals per year to correctional facilities across North
America.
Sweetheart
contracts with state and federal governments, and with the private companies
who now own 20 percent of federal prisons across the United States, have opened
up a whole new areas of taxpayer-funded profit-making. This
includes contracts to provide pharmaceuticals [7] to
more than one million inmates in private, federal, state, and local
prisons.
According
to ITPI, taxpayers forked over [8] nearly $12 million in
total compensation for the top six executives running Corrections Corporation
of America in 2014.
And
the competition to make a profit hasn’t been good for people in the system. The
foodservice and facilities giant Aramark has been repeatedly charged with
providing dangerously unsafe food [9] to
prisoners. In fact, Aramark lost its contract with the state of Michigan last
year due to maggots in the kitchen [10], drugs being smuggled by its employees [11],
and Aramark workers engaging in sex acts with prisoners [12].
In
2012, the Michigan legislature voted to contract out food services for state
prisons to a private company. The goal was to save $14 million a year out of
the state's Department of Corrections budget of approximately $2 billion. That
same privatization plan cut about 370 state jobs—good, union jobs.
Aramark
was the lowest bidder for the contract. However, the deal ended up costing
Michigan $52.5 million a year [13], $13 million more
than expected.
When
you add the immigration component, such as entire families who are seeking
asylum and instead being held as “illegal” immigrants in similar prison systems [14], the scale of
things gets even bigger, and the profits even more massive. In fact,
immigration-related prisons are the fastest-growing sector [15] of the
private prison industry.
“This
research underscores just how much private profit there is in every corner of
our criminal justice system,” says Donald Cohen, In the Public Interest’s
executive director. “Every dollar in profit for the private corrections
industry is a dollar that could be invested in building a more moral and
cost-effective criminal justice system. To strengthen safety and justice in our
communities, we should spend that money on adequate staffing, quality health
care, and training programs to prepare prisoners [16] for productive
lives when they are released.”
The
following infographic depicts the possible paths of people charged with
different offenses, and the many privatized services provided by the
corrections industry. For more information visit In the Public Interest [17].
Brandon Weber [18] has written for Upworthy [19], Liberals
Unite [20], and Good.Is magazine [21], mostly on economics,
labor union history, and working people. He is working on two books, one on
forgotten labor history and one on the fatally flawed foster and adoption
system, and some ways to fix it.
Section:
·
Contributors [22]
Topics:
Criminal Justice [23]
·
Prisons [24]
The
Progressive Inc. publishes The Progressive magazine
plus Progressive.org and Public
School Shakedown.
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2014 • The Progressive Inc. • 30 W. Mifflin Street, Suite 703 • Madison,
Wisconsin 53703 • (608) 257-4626
Source
URL: http://www.progressive.org/news/2016/01/188519/private-companies-are-making-killing-justice-system
Links
[1] http://www.progressive.org/news/2016/01/188519/private-companies-are-making-killing-justice-system
[2] http://www.progressive.org/authors/brandon-weber
[3] https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffdjevdet/
[4] https://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2014/10/23/10/09/dollar-499478_960_720.jpg
[5] http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/they-made-how-much/
[6] http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/?everything=everything
[7] https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2007/feb/15/correct-rx-a-new-major-player-in-the-prison-drug-industry/
[8] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1070985/000119312515118064/d898931ddef14a.htm
[9] http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/06/02/aramark-michigan-prison-contractor-maggots-kitchen/28378435/
[10] http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/07/01/inmates-sick-maggots-prison/11890175/
[11] http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2014/10/23/third-aramark-prison-food-worker-fired-suspected-drug-smuggling/17784655/
[12] http://archive.freep.com/article/20140716/NEWS06/307160148/aramark-inmate-sex-michigan-prison
[13] http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2015/07/state_says_aramark_contract_en.html
[14] http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/living-conditions-immigration-detention-centers.html
[15] http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2015/06/private-prisons-profit
[16] http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/programs-not-profits/
[17] http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/private-companies-profit-from-almost-every/
[18] https://twitter.com/BrandonWeber_UP
[19] https://www.facebook.com/brandon.weber.upw/
[20] http://samuel-warde.com/author/brandy/
[21] https://magazine.good.is/contributors/brandon-weber
[22] http://www.progressive.org/section/contributors
[23] http://www.progressive.org/topics/criminal-justice
[24] http://www.progressive.org/topics/prisons
[2] http://www.progressive.org/authors/brandon-weber
[3] https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffdjevdet/
[4] https://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2014/10/23/10/09/dollar-499478_960_720.jpg
[5] http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/they-made-how-much/
[6] http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/?everything=everything
[7] https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2007/feb/15/correct-rx-a-new-major-player-in-the-prison-drug-industry/
[8] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1070985/000119312515118064/d898931ddef14a.htm
[9] http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/06/02/aramark-michigan-prison-contractor-maggots-kitchen/28378435/
[10] http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/07/01/inmates-sick-maggots-prison/11890175/
[11] http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2014/10/23/third-aramark-prison-food-worker-fired-suspected-drug-smuggling/17784655/
[12] http://archive.freep.com/article/20140716/NEWS06/307160148/aramark-inmate-sex-michigan-prison
[13] http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2015/07/state_says_aramark_contract_en.html
[14] http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/living-conditions-immigration-detention-centers.html
[15] http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2015/06/private-prisons-profit
[16] http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/programs-not-profits/
[17] http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/private-companies-profit-from-almost-every/
[18] https://twitter.com/BrandonWeber_UP
[19] https://www.facebook.com/brandon.weber.upw/
[20] http://samuel-warde.com/author/brandy/
[21] https://magazine.good.is/contributors/brandon-weber
[22] http://www.progressive.org/section/contributors
[23] http://www.progressive.org/topics/criminal-justice
[24] http://www.progressive.org/topics/prisons
- See more at: http://www.progressive.org/print/188519#sthash.hwxp1GK5.dpuf
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