One reason that the number of incarcerated people in the US remains high is
that politicians are afraid to appear 'soft' on crime or illegal
immigration [GALLO/GETTY]
These companies have a vested interest in putting more people in prison and keeping them there longer - and they have the lobbying dollars to make it happen. By funding state and national campaigns, lobbying legislators and participating in influential conservative political organisations, they appear to have succeeded in shaping policies that enhance their bottom line, at the expense of a sane and affordable criminal justice system.
A second report, put out by the Detention Watch Network, asserts that private prison companies have been especially successful in influencing immigration policies and practices. Some 400,000 immigrants pass through the nation's immigrant detention centres each year, at a cost to the taxpayers of $1.7bn. Nearly half of these immigrants are housed in 30 detention centres run by private companies under contract with the federal government; they are paid an average of $122 per day per resident.
With 1 in 100 American adults behind bars, falling crime rates
and a cash-strapped economy, the United States would seem ripe for the
kinds of national reforms that might keep people out of prison. Recent polls
have shown that even our law-and-order-minded citizenry would rather
see penalties eased for certain criminals than pay more money to keep
them locked up.
A smattering of states, blue and red alike, have taken tentative steps to reduce their prison populations. Yet overall, the incarceration rate remains flat even as crime levels decrease and budget deficits grow. And on the federal level, the numbers of prisoners just keep growing; Congress, meanwhile, can't even manage to pass a bill to study criminal justice reforms, much less make them.
What is it that's keeping some 2.3 million people in prisons and jails across the United States, and thousands more in immigrant detention centres? In large part, it's the timidity of politicians from both parties, who still fear appearing soft on crime or on illegal immigration.
Since the 1980s, through Republican and Democratic administrations alike, they have lengthened sentences and rolled back parole opportunities, leading to a 700 per cent increase in the US prison population. In the last 15 years, they have also overseen a five-fold increase in the numbers of undocumented immigrants jailed in detention centres.
Several new reports argue that the greed and influence of private prison companies, as well as the perfidy of politicians, plays a role in keeping prisons and detention centres teeming. According to Banking on Bondage: Private Prisons and Mass Incarceration, a report released this month by the American Civil Liberties Union, "Today, for-profit companies are responsible for approximately 6 per cent of state prisoners, 16 per cent of federal prisoners".
A smattering of states, blue and red alike, have taken tentative steps to reduce their prison populations. Yet overall, the incarceration rate remains flat even as crime levels decrease and budget deficits grow. And on the federal level, the numbers of prisoners just keep growing; Congress, meanwhile, can't even manage to pass a bill to study criminal justice reforms, much less make them.
What is it that's keeping some 2.3 million people in prisons and jails across the United States, and thousands more in immigrant detention centres? In large part, it's the timidity of politicians from both parties, who still fear appearing soft on crime or on illegal immigration.
Since the 1980s, through Republican and Democratic administrations alike, they have lengthened sentences and rolled back parole opportunities, leading to a 700 per cent increase in the US prison population. In the last 15 years, they have also overseen a five-fold increase in the numbers of undocumented immigrants jailed in detention centres.
Several new reports argue that the greed and influence of private prison companies, as well as the perfidy of politicians, plays a role in keeping prisons and detention centres teeming. According to Banking on Bondage: Private Prisons and Mass Incarceration, a report released this month by the American Civil Liberties Union, "Today, for-profit companies are responsible for approximately 6 per cent of state prisoners, 16 per cent of federal prisoners".
These companies have a vested interest in putting more people in prison and keeping them there longer - and they have the lobbying dollars to make it happen. By funding state and national campaigns, lobbying legislators and participating in influential conservative political organisations, they appear to have succeeded in shaping policies that enhance their bottom line, at the expense of a sane and affordable criminal justice system.
A second report, put out by the Detention Watch Network, asserts that private prison companies have been especially successful in influencing immigration policies and practices. Some 400,000 immigrants pass through the nation's immigrant detention centres each year, at a cost to the taxpayers of $1.7bn. Nearly half of these immigrants are housed in 30 detention centres run by private companies under contract with the federal government; they are paid an average of $122 per day per resident.
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