Private purchasing of prisons lock in occupancy rates

WASHINGTON – At a time when states are struggling to reduce bloated prison populations and tight budgets, a private prison management company is offering to buy prisons in exchange for various considerations, including a controversial guarantee that the governments maintain a 90% occupancy rate for at least 20 years.

The $250 million proposal, circulated by the Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America to prison officials in 48 states, has been blasted by some state officials who suggest such a program could pressure criminal justice officials to seek harsher sentences to maintain the contractually required occupancy rates.

"You don't want a prison system operating with the goal of maximizing profits," says Texas state Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat and advocate for reducing prison populations through less costly diversion programs. "The only thing worse is that this seeks to take advantage of some states' troubled financial position

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-03-01/buying-prisons-require-high-occupancy/53402894/1?loc=interstitialskip

[Edited 3/8/12 6:39am]

now this is some spicy type shit

the thing is, if you hadn't found this

most folks would think people in prison

belong in prison because there are

no findings of innocent in court anymore

just not guilty which means that one is always

guilty of somethin

Makes u wonder about folks locked up 4 complete nonsense.

Okay you guys are freakin' me out. This was on an episode of Leverage, something similar. What the heck is all this life imitating art stuff happening lately? It's a shame how big of a business it is in the act of keeping people locked up.

morningsong said:

Okay you guys are freakin' me out. This was on an episode of Leverage, something similar. What the heck is all this life imitating art stuff happening lately? It's a shame how big of a business it is in the act of keeping people locked up.

REALLY!!!

lookahere, this ain't imatatin art.

it been goin on for years.

for those of you who don't know

bob barker has a contract with

all the jail systems to sell his

products and his products ONLY

in commisaries cross country.

PRISON has been BIG BUSSINESS

since the '60s and the major ocupants

have been blacks and low income

lowly educated.

i'm sayin

flash gordon didn't have lasers

and then someone made them

they were there already as are most

things you first see in films.

Mercedes Unveils Invisible Car...What?

pay attention to whut you see and think

"whut a marvelous concept."

most likely they are just waitin 'til

it can be marketed to the public

AFTER they're done militarizin it...

dirtybobedit

[Edited 3/8/12 10:49am]

Buy up prisons in exchange for a 90% maximum occupancy rate over 20 years. And people say crime doesn't pay.

It shouldn't be difficult. Aren't prisons all way over capacity?

NDRU said:

It shouldn't be difficult. Aren't prisons all way over capacity?

yes,

because of this very thing.

and to be sure it stays that way

there are 27 prisons built, to

every school. the more schools

torn down, the more prisons get built.

Hmmmmmmmmm...

That's some crazy shit right THERE.

If you think about it, that's about as un-American as you can get.

We should strive to reduce our prison populations, not contract a private company to profit off of it.

Sometimes I think that the nutjobs are right...time for a REVOLUTION.

PurpleJedi said:

That's some crazy shit right THERE.

If you think about it, that's about as un-American as you can get.

We should strive to reduce our prison populations, not contract a private company to profit off of it.

Sometimes I think that the nutjobs are right...time for a REVOLUTION.

the nutjobs today are the teaparty

and they endorse these things

because it keeps the havenots

in their place. the revolution they want

is to keep the rich rich.

now for those of us whom have

rooted for revolution for years.

these are the things we wanted to

stop, YEARS AGO, when it was JUST US

instead of justice. now it effects

a hellalot more than blacks, so alot

more people will take interest

ahhh, prisons.....the most affordable form of labor for the US GOVT.

NDRU said:

It shouldn't be difficult. Aren't prisons all way over capacity?

This is the key point. This company is not asking the state to incarcerate more people. It's asking the state to actively seek agreements with other states to house their prison overflow - something that is already widely practiced.

Genesia said:

NDRU said:

It shouldn't be difficult. Aren't prisons all way over capacity?

This is the key point. This company is not asking the state to incarcerate more people. It's asking the state to actively seek agreements with other states to house their prison overflow - something that is already widely practiced.

Ahhh....ok.

PurpleJedi said:

Genesia said:

This is the key point. This company is not asking the state to incarcerate more people. It's asking the state to actively seek agreements with other states to house their prison overflow - something that is already widely practiced.

Ahhh....ok.

Of course they aren't.

KingBAD said:

NDRU said:

It shouldn't be difficult. Aren't prisons all way over capacity?

yes,

because of this very thing.

and to be sure it stays that way

there are 27 prisons built, to

every school. the more schools

torn down, the more prisons get built.

Hmmmmmmmmm...

Building more prisons than schools, has been happening for years. Prison is a business.

In North Florida, the state prisons contracted out to private prisons, because of the major inmate overflow back in the early to mid-90s. I used to work for a correctional agency out there and did the weekly/monthly population reports;which also included the new entries that were held in county jails over the weekends, waiting to be transferred to state prisons, because they had no room in he facilities they were to be transferred to. In the mid 90s the state started building new prisons in parts of North Florida in the rural areas as well. Of course people complained about more prisons being built than schools, which is of course, was and is a shame, but the building of more prisons (private/state, etc.), had been happening for years

.

[Edited 3/9/12 11:11am]

KingBAD said:

NDRU said:

It shouldn't be difficult. Aren't prisons all way over capacity?

yes,

because of this very thing.

and to be sure it stays that way

there are 27 prisons built, to

every school. the more schools

torn down, the more prisons get built.

Hmmmmmmmmm...

hmmmmmm

2elijah said:

KingBAD said:

yes,

because of this very thing.

and to be sure it stays that way

there are 27 prisons built, to

every school. the more schools

torn down, the more prisons get built.

Hmmmmmmmmm...

Building more prisons than schools, has been happening for years. Prison is a business.

In North Florida, the state prisons contracted out to private prisons, because of the major inmate overflow back in the early to mid-90s. I used to work for a correctional agency out there and did the weekly/monthly population reports;which also included the new entries that were held in county jails over the weekends, waiting to be transferred to state prisons, because they had no room in he facilities they were to be transferred to. In the mid 90s the state started building new prisons in parts of North Florida in the rural areas as well. Of course people complained about more prisons being built than schools, which is of course, was and is a shame, but the building of more prisons (private/state, etc.), had been happening for years

.

[Edited 3/9/12 11:11am]

People start complaining when the prisons are being built closer to home too. Don't ge me started on why the prison population is growing or this thread will end up in P&R. I will say, however, that it isn't solely due to people committing more crime.

HotGritz said:

2elijah said:

Building more prisons than schools, has been happening for years. Prison is a business.

In North Florida, the state prisons contracted out to private prisons, because of the major inmate overflow back in the early to mid-90s. I used to work for a correctional agency out there and did the weekly/monthly population reports;which also included the new entries that were held in county jails over the weekends, waiting to be transferred to state prisons, because they had no room in he facilities they were to be transferred to. In the mid 90s the state started building new prisons in parts of North Florida in the rural areas as well. Of course people complained about more prisons being built than schools, which is of course, was and is a shame, but the building of more prisons (private/state, etc.), had been happening for years

.

[Edited 3/9/12 11:11am]

People start complaining when the prisons are being built closer to home too. Don't ge me started on why the prison population is growing or this thread will end up in P&R. I will say, however, that it isn't solely due to people committing more crime.

2e, i'm a 56y/o black militant. there isn't anything you said i ain't knowin. i been in the fla. systems and many more across these great states of amerikkka. and as hg states, it's not that

crimes are bein committed, the poor are more unlikely to win a case because of finacial

reasons more than guilt, and it's been like that FOR YEARS shit ft. lauderdale kidnaps folks

off the streets and hold the for days without even chargin them (unless it's changed recently)

so the thing that's been happenin for years is THE AGREEMENT. "if you can fill them, we can build them and run them, but it has to look right"

I think the issue is contracting a guaranteed 90% occupancy rate for the next 20 years, regardless, is the problem. I would think it shifts the goal.

[Edited 3/9/12 14:20pm]