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Stop Using \"for-profit\" prisons in the USA

Prisons shouldn't operate for a profit; Justice cannot be sold!

Louisiana's title as "prison capital of the world" is a disgrace for this country. The "for-profit" prison industry in this country that creates and thrives on getting inmates and keeping them imprisoned is criminal at best, and could be considered modern-day enslavement. Where is the accountability? Where is the federal oversight? I believe our country is better than this. Our Nation should be a leading force of what justice on this planet should resemble, as we often set the standards around the world for human rights. I am advocating against the abhorrent and grave injustice that "for-profit" prisons are, and their threat to our justice system as a whole. I want the United States of America to close and end the use of all "for-profit" prisons operating in this country.



Background:



It was recently brought to my attention that Louisiana, USA, is the prison capital of the world. Incarcerating people at a rate 13 times that of China and 5 times that of Iran (Chang, 2012). Shocked, I decided to do more research into this claim. Turns out, Louisiana has a "for-profit" corporate prison system, and unfortunately, Louisiana isn't the only state. People and corporations all over the USA are not only making money off of other individuals' failures and subsequent imprisonment, they are influencing the higher rates of imprisonment, length of sentencing, and thwarting reform that is trying to improve the justice system and end over-criminalization (Chang, 2012).







The privatization of prisons has become a booming business. "The two largest private prison companies combined brought in close to $3,000,000,000 in revenue in 2010,"(Snyder, 2013). "The prison industry complex is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States and its investors are on Wall Street. 'This multimillion-dollar industry has its own trade exhibitions, conventions, websites, and mail-order/Internet catalogs. It also has direct advertising campaigns, architecture companies, construction companies, investment houses on Wall Street, plumbing supply companies, food supply companies, armed security, and padded cells in a large variety of colors,'" (Pelaez, 2013).







"For-profit" prisons and their original development came about as a response to the rapid increase of prisoners in the 1980s. The states did not have the ability or resources to build and operate prisons fast enough to match the growing inmate population. This population increase is due largely (but not soley) to the failed and misguided "war on drugs," the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, which required mandatory minimums, "3 stirkes" legislation, and blatant racism (Leopold, 2013).







"According to the American Civil Liberties Union, numerous studies indicate that private jails are actually filthier, more violent, less accountable, and could be more costly than their public counterparts. They claim that the for-profit prison industry is 'a major contributor to bloated state budgets and mass inca