The Prison System Is Becoming Big Business in America - The American Gulags

I was incarcerated in a cca prison for 3 years, they are a scam, they stole from the inmates, let their favorite snitches get away with murder, literally, the guards were supplying the inmates with drugs. the people who work there were compelled to buy shares in cca so that in case of litigation from inmates their pocket suffered as well. I was locked in a disciplinary segregation lockdown cell for 45 days naked without anything but a bible, for a disagreement with a guard, he lied and said I threatened his life. cca held foreign prisoners in the united states on contract with foreign governments, would they farm out american prisoners to other countries? cca uses inmate labor to cut firewood, they then sell this at a personal profit, I cant prove this with documentation but I worked at hard labor for three years on the end of an axe cutting the wood. I would rather it went to the needy. personal profit from inmate labor is slavery, cca are slave traders.

It is getting worse no doubt. I knew the justice system was broken but did not how bad until I got "in the system."

Many police officers love to arrest people in a perverted way, to the point where they find excuses to make arrest and are rewarded for their 'crime fighting' efforts. The court system is anything but fair and money will buy your way out of trouble, prosecutors want to get convictions. The probation system is a racketeering scheme and rigged to keep people in the system. Prisons get very cheap labor out of the prisoners and there are rules in prison that if broken will lengthen one's sentence without a trial or due process. If one manages one to finish their jail/probation sentence they will have a difficult time finding a job with decent wages, even if one is highly qualified they will get paid less than someone with the same qualifications and no record.

The reason there is little outcry is because the majority of the population are good sheep and never been in any sort of legal trouble. They have no sympathy because they've been conditioned to dehumanize anyone convicted of a crime, no matter how small. They buy the tough on crime propaganda and believe they are safer with more laws are more people being incarcerated.

Now with the Prison Industry becoming more powerful they can lobby more successfully, which leads to more laws and more prisoners. It is a vicious cycle.

For the United States to become a free country again we will need a revolution. I used to think an intellectual revolution would be sufficient and we could vote out the scumbags and take back our country peacefully. Sadly I think it will take a lot more than that to restore the United States.

I have a friend in a private prison here in Texas, run by the GEO group. Im definantly not a fan of the private prison industry. I found this article posted on my facebook feed by an Occupy group here in Dallas.

Dean of Texas Senate rejects CCA prison purchase proposal

Yesterday, Frank wrote that the ACLU, Presbyterian Criminal Justice Network, and a broad coalition of civil rights and faith leaders were opposing CCA's recent offer to buy state prisons in return for states maintaining 90% occupancy at these facilities.

Now, these groups are being joined by Texas State Senator John Whitmire, the Dean of the Senate and long-time chair of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. Whitmire, speaking to USA Today ("Private purchasing of prisons locks in occupancy rates," March 8th), had this to say:

"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."

Former Kansas Secretary of Corrections Roger Werholtz also warned against the temptation of a "quick infusion of cash" saying

"[m]y concern would be that our state would be obligated to maintain these (occupancy) rates and subtle pressure would be applied to make sentencing laws more severe with a clear intent to drive up the population."

Im a bit suprised someone in the Texas legislature would say no to this. Ever since Ive lived here, it has always seemed that the "tough on crime" motto was status quo.

reply to post by ofhumandescent


The Prison System Is Becoming Big Business in America ?

It IS big business......Not becoming.


S&F

Originally posted by sonnny1
reply to post by ofhumandescent

 

The Prison System Is Becoming Big Business in America ?

It IS big business......Not becoming.


S&F

What gets me is when people are given a public defender
that public defender is getting paid by the state.

Who else is being paid by the state?
The damn prosecutor that is who..

Seems like a big racket to me.

reply to post by buni11687


That gives me hope. The fact that the private prison industry is growing does not.


Also, I've heard stories of prison guards executing prisoners they do not like. Here is an example of how they get away with it. They will order a prisoner to pick up trash along the perimeter of the compound and when they start walking toward the fence the shoot them and their official story is the prisoner was trying to escape.

reply to post by jrod


I have seen this with my own eyes, this is an old trick the guards use on inmates, one inmate was simply left in a restraint chair until he died. what follows are examples of what went on there.
Winn Correctional Center, Shreveport, La
CCA
February 9, 2011 The Advocate
The Jindal administration is asking companies to detail how much they would charge the state to care for inmates in Allen and Winn parishes if two state prisons are sold to ease budget problems. Responses to the Request For Information, or RFI, are due Friday as part of a possible move toward selling the correctional centers. Private companies oversee Winn Correctional Center in Atlanta, La., and Allen Correctional Center in Kinder. Winn is managed by Corrections Corporation of America while Global Expertise in Outsourcing, Inc. operates Allen. Selling the prisons is still just a possibility at this point. However, a sale would force the state to pay the new owners for the care of inmates at the medium security centers. Some elected officials are nervous about how much the state would end up paying. Michael DiResto, spokesman for the Division of Administration, said Wednesday that the RFI is “for planning and information gathering purposes.”

August 13, 2010 Monroe Free Press
Winn Correctional Center inmate Calvin Walker is back in court a third time requesting that 19th Judicial District Court Judge Wilson Fields enforce his February 19, 2010, ruling ordering Corrections Corporation of America to pay Walker $1,700.00 for jewelry W.N.C. officials unlawfully “took” from Walker in January of 2003. Walker, who is completing the last four months of two consecutive 12-year terms for simple theft successfully proved to the court that his jewelry was “jacked” in an awkward attempt by a Winn Correctional Center shift supervisor to “create” an opportunity to steal (his) watch and ring(s). The Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeals in 2007-CA-1824, Walker vs. Department of Corrections et al, ruled that Walker’s watch and rings were “arbitrarily and capriciously taken against (his) constitutional rights.” The court also took judicial notice that “The Department of Public Safety and Corrections submitted a forged intake property sheet as their evidence provided by Corrections Corporation of America.” Walker said the jewelry, which he “Kept on his person because of its sentimental value,” were his parent’s marriage rings. They consisted of an 18k gold nugget, one inch width band with one-carat diamond offset center; an 18k gold plain one quarter inch width band with five 0.3carat diamonds totaling 1.5 carats; and an 18kgold nugget one half inch band. “Walker said that it was after being placed in the Administration Segregation lockdown unit on July 29, 2004, Case Manger J. Whitaker and three CCA officers forcibly held me down and stripped me of my clothing this is when they found the rings and seized them.” “Later in the day I saw Unit Manager Christopher Myles and told him how Whitaker and three of his henchmen had ‘gangstered’ my property.” Walker says Myles then summoned Whitaker and ordered him to return Walker’s property or turn the rings over to Property Room Supervisor Connie Brinson, to be inventoried and stored in “my Personal Property Bin.” Whitaker was also instructed to issue Walker a copy of the Personal Property Sheet. Walker said the Personal Property Sheet signed by case manager Whitaker was issued to him. Eight months later Walker says a CCA officer in a casual conversation mentioned that Case Manager Whitaker told him he’d “sold Walkers old rings for $1,500.00.” Walker said he immediately wrote Property Room Supervisor Connie Brinson inquiring “as to whether she received his rings from Whitaker.” On April 20, 2005, the Property Room wrote back, “There are no rings in your property.” In 19th Judicial District Court (Docket #537-071 Section 25 Walker vs. Stalder, et al) Corrections Corporation of America Warden Timothy Wilkinson told the court he had Walker’s rings locked in their security safe. District Judge Wilson Fields then ordered the warden to mail Walker’s jewelry to his relatives. Walker says when asked why the rings had not reached his relatives per the order of the court Wilkinson replied, “F__k the Court, I ain’t giving you sh_t.” Judge Fields then ordered Wilkerson through CCA, to compensate Walker $1,700.00. That order was issued February 10, 2010. Walker says Tim Wilkerson still maintains “the judge’s order means absolutely nothing to him.”

January 19, 2006 Daily Town Talk
Former Winn Correctional Center officer Capt. John Charles Roberts pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of oral sex with an inmate and one count of lying to an FBI agent. The first charge is a civil-rights charge. A prisoner has a constitutional right to be free from sexual assault and sexual abuse. A federal grand jury originally indicted Roberts, 43, on two counts of civil-rights violations, for lying to an FBI agent about it and obstruction of justice. U.S. District Judge Dee D. Drell will sentence Roberts April 26. Roberts faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison, a $250,000 fine or both on the oral sex charge, and five years, a $250,000 fine or both for lying to the FBI agent. Following any imprisonment, Roberts will be on at least three years of supervised probation. A document signed by Roberts states that he coerced an inmate "to perform oral sex," and "if he didn't do it, he would send him to lockdown with dangerous inmates, and no one would hear (the inmate's) screams."

June 24, 2001
One correctional officer has been fired and another suspended for apparent mistakes that allowed two prisoners to escape outside LSU Hospital in Shreveport. Winn Correctional Center authorities declined to identify the officers punished over the escapes on April 18. Inmates Jasen Webb and Buyong Jones fled as they stepped from a van at the hospital for medical appointments. Jones, convicted of manslaughter, was quickly captured. Webb, who was serving 16 years for armed robbery, eluded authorities for two days. He was found hiding under a Shreveport house. An investigation found that Webb and Jones were able to get out of their handcuffs, waist chains and leg irons because Webb had a small handcuff key, Warden Tim Wilkinson said. The investigation also concluded that the two officers transporting the eight inmates failed to follow procedure, Wilkinson said. (AP)

Everytime you get arrested or even have an incident with the police your money gets taken either as "evidence" to prove the amount you were carrying was because of whatever criminal enterprise you were participating in, or because money isn't allowed in jail.

If you have to go to court or have a date set to go to Jail go with your wallet empty of course you already probably know this... If you are lucky you'll get a receipt when you "hopefully" get released that you have to take to a specific bank to get your money back.

Therefore whatever bank receives jail and prison inmates money is actually making a profit too, pretty much like you setting up a checking account with them without your permission.

One of the reasons I left Ellensburg WA, was because the harrassment was so horrible since it was a small college town and they have nothing else to do. They have a sign when you come in saying "XXX DUI ARRESTS THIS YEAR". My Lawyer even got pulled over and harrassed when he crossed the Cascades to defend me for going 30 in a 25 but I'm sure they were just trying to show him who was in charge even though he was a very powerful man.

I was blessed with an excellent attorney when I got a hearsay felony charge (I don't even know how they could have legitemately charged me for this) and yes he was expensive, but he's friends with almost every DA/Prosecutor/Judge in almost every county here and has used the "Good Ole Boy" rules behind closed doors to my benefit.

Recently one of my best friends who is a really really really good morally upstanding guy got pulled over in North Seattle. He thought policemen were your friends and so he told the officer that he was the DD in the group except he had 1-1.5 drinks as that wouldn't put him over the .08 law. Needless to say even though he was under the legal limit blowing a .05 he was stilll charged with a DUI because if the police officer believes in his own mind that he spead or did a California stop not because of just bad driving but because of alcohol, or he needs to fill his quotas you can get a DUI for blowing a .001.

The most horrible experience I had was when I had to report to ellensburg jail for driving without insurance or some bull# and was on methadone at the time. When my parents were giving them my medication as I going through the intake office one of the bitch officer females that I knew hated me said she believed the instructions on the bottles were doctored and fake (they weren't) and that they would not give me my Methadone (thank god it was an opiate and not a benzo because people die if they have to suddenly stop those). One of my parents made the offhand remark that "If my son doesn't get his methadone while he serves the next 2 weeks he will be going through withdrawls and will literally fill like he's dying". They took that as a suicide threat even though it didn't come from me...
So I was setting up in my pod when 10 minutes later the bitch that hated me said, "We've recieved some threats that you want to commit suicide so we're going to put you on suicide watch. O, and by the way we're not going to let you take your medication."
So they put me in the drunk take next to the jail intake lobby where all the male and female officers hangout and can see inside. Humuliated me by stripping me naked and putting me in a rubber jacket (it's like a thick rubber blouse imagine being naked inside of a rolled up wrestling mat with 2 holes for arms) for the next 5 days, while I went thru withdrawls for a supposed suicide when on intake I personally told them I didn't feel mentally unstable etc... on intake. All I had was a cement bench to lay on for 5 days while all the men and women would watch me try and take a piss in this jacket while mocking me for various things (remember I was a college kid, real ellensburg residents HATE college kids and just use them for money). Finally I was able to rationalize with them and play their game saying "I'm all better thanks for helping me not hurt myself etc..."
So I got to go to the "lowest risk inmate" pod going through total opiate withdrawls taking multiple hot showers a day... This # I saw in there I've got tons of stories, but basically these people don't give a [snip] about you and they want you to have these bad experiences so nextime you'll pay all the fines and do community service instead so they can use your free slave labor "ahh 30 days in the Hole..."
Human storage facilities or Slave Labor if your lucky.

reply to post by Swing80s

the prison system puts inmate money in an escrow account which gathers interest, the combined money for personal inmate accounts can be very substantial ,and the prison system keeps the interest off the inmates money. personal items are purchased off a mail order list from out of state where taxes are not payed. the prison system then charges the inmate a state tax on said items which is then kept by the prison. little to no accountability or oversight by the state on private prisons business affairs. its a brilliant scam.

I don't like the idea of a company running a prison and mandating 90% capacity.

What I do like is turning prisons into work houses.
They say a big problem with prisons is the prisoners are bored and that leads to violence.
Make the prisons produce to the point of making a profit for the states.
In California many prisons have open land near them that they can grow crops for their own food.
Wash laundry for local hospitals at a discounted rate.
Open the shops back up and manufacture.

Hell even make a deal with solar companies to put solar panels on all the roofs and the companies get 90% of the profits for the first 5 years then nothing after that.
Do that instead of upfront costs, the energy savings alone in California will help.
Once they start making a profit even better.

Include other jobs, certain non violent offenders can do customer service online if monitored.
Have them assemble goods instead of having things made over seas.
Do off site grading construction(diging ditches clearing debris and trees), only for the non violent offenders.
For the prisons that have land to grow crops let them have a say in what they grow, they will be the ones eating it after all.

It used to be when you went to jail you paid for the crime as in worked to pay back the state for housing you.
I'm sure it wouldn't be possible to make a profit, but you can come pretty darn close.

Have it set up where prisoners get 2 days off a week in the rec rooms.
4 days off if they are getting a degree and maintain a B+ average.
Not just have the prisoners make money for the state but pay them too.
50% of their earnings goes to the victims of their crimes if there are direct victims.
25% goes into a savings account so when they are released they actually have money which will help lower the repeat offender rate.
25% is for them to buy whatever they are allowed to buy in prison.
As the prisons start making money they can even vote on buying things like a TV for the common areas.
Contract with Apple and Pandora and Netflix and Ammozon to have digital media in their cells but only if they pay for it.
If they misbehave their privileges get taken away.

Make them work their asses off, but also treat them like humans and pay them and let them earn things that are theirs.
It will go a long way to reforming them, improving prisons, and saving the state money if not making it.


I'm talking total reform top to bottom, inside to out.

Do private prisons save taxpayers money?

Although the predominant myths about PRIVATIZATION (whether of prisons or anything else) claim that privatization means tax savings for the public, it actually costs us more. Even though on paper a private agency or corporation may present a lower figure to do the same job, once that money has been taken out of the public's hands, it no longer remains ours. In the public sector, tax money tends to make more of itself, meaning that each public dollar paid through one social service will spend itself four to eight times more elsewhere within the public sector. Once public money goes into private hands however, that money stays there and is gone for good. This is especially true if we consider that privatization corporations are usually given handsome tax breaks and "incentives," in the form of what some people call "corporate welfare," which means we are even less likely to see that money again.

Source:www.correctionsproject.com...

I'm going to say the answer to that is hell no. They've managed to sucker enough people into believing the propaganda that privatization saves money and increases efficiency when actually it does the opposite. It's just another example of socialism for the rich, crony capitalism that transfers our tax dollars into the hands of the wealthy.

The second point I'd like to make is this.




There's no way that should be happening in a free country. It's obscene, and the main culprit in that is the criminal war on drugs. The whole thing is a perverted economic engine running on human misery and death to enrich the few at the expense of the poor.

There are psychopaths in this world that would kill you or steal from you as soon as look at you, and society needs to be protected from them. Unfortunately a lot of them are sitting in board rooms, or in political offices, or journalists, or cops, all under the guise of respectability, and they're the ones who do the most damage to society.

Hasn´t this been going on for decades?

reply to post by ofhumandescent


Whilst not trying to denigrate from your thread, it is important to realise this practice is nothing new - corporations have used US Prisons for a long time now. I left school a LONG time ago now and even then Fruit of the Loom (as one example) sourced their goods through prison labour.

Important topic so star and flag but nothing new.

ETA:

Beat me to it Bastardo! (loving the name ).

reply to post by ofhumandescent


This issue has existed for a long time now; at least 15 yrs. Some of our telecommunications are handled by prison inmates. Prisons are the new money-pot for corporate America, and if I'm not mistaken some fabrication work is handled by prisoners as well. It's big business going on in the prisons for pennies on the dollar.

There is a direct correlation between the rise in prison populations and the War on Drugs. Not only has it created a greater population of inmates but it drives up the cost of street drugs creating more incentive for some to sell them. The more money involved the greater likelihood of violence occurring. This is a vicious cycle that is both self-perpetuating and self-defeating.
Addiction is a medical problem and should be treated as such. Instead of spending so much money on law enforcement, interdiction, incarceration and paroling it should be going towards education and rehabilitation efforts.
These same laws driving up prices have created nightmares for 3rd world countries where drug lords have become immensely powerful, setting them at odds with civil populations and creating a need for military hardware and assistance.
Privatizing prisons is one giant leap in the wrong direction and agreeing to fill them with certain minimum numbers of inmates can only end with sham convictions and false arrests to fill quotas.

It doesn't have to be this way. Our justice system and laws need not be overly complicated but for those who profit immensely by its institutionalization,
Our will to profit has triumphed over common sense and compassion towards our fellow man. We are reaping the rewards of this system every day as we see our Republic falling in to shambles.

S&F

Great thread and judging by the comments people at ATS understand what a scam the prison system is and how justice depends on either being lucky (with a good public defender) or by spending a lot of money.

What is harder to understand is as to why the public are asleep on the matter. I suppose they are told that private prisons reduces crime and is cheaper for the taxpayer, when the evidence is the opposite.

So I'll ask all those extreme neo-liberals who come here, who believe that everything should be privatised why they believe this is a good thing. Or for those same neo-liberals to explain why they don't support private prisons, but yet still believe that things are always best in private hands...

reply to post by jude11


Where to run to?

This is going global, it's called "The New World Order" where those that are left after our numbers have been "lowered" service the handful of the elite rich.

Yes as crazy as this sounds - we're in the final stages and how did we get to this point?

By people not grabbing the real criminals on Wall Street and our government "leaders" by their collars and rounding them up and incarcerating them (or worse/although I hate violence).

We vote in admire and continue to allow the PTB to enslave us instead of banding together and fighting them.

They commit false flag operations and trick people into wars, dividing people by race, religion, etc has got to stop.

But as stated, it's probably already too late the hole in the dam is too big to plug up now and yes this is going global..............run, run and hid as fast as you can isn't going to work because that old saying of

First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up,
because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up,
because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left
to speak up for me.

~ Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inaction of German intellectuals during the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group.

If we don't learn by our historical mistakes folks, we are doomed to repeat them.

Over and over and over and over and over again..................Welcome to The New World Order, enjoy your stay and be sure to tell your kids by your apathy and compliance you, me, we all helped set it into place.

On Example is anyone who has allowed a stranger to grope them or their child or allowed themself or a family member to go through a snanner has by their compliance condoned us being treated like cattle.

If EVERYONE, for just one week had refused to fly - EVERYONE refused those scanners and TSA gropers, the airlines would have taken them down so fast it wouldn't be funny.

If EVERYONE had realized 911 was a false flag and refused to go to war........................

But most people keep complying like dumb sheep and march quietly and compliantly to the slaughter house.

There is soon to be no place to run and hide...................the few control the many by our indifference to our fellow man.

"So my neighbor's house is foreclosed because he/she had one medical issue or lost their job to outsourcing, so what, doesn't affect me"....................(what most people don't realize is, yes eventually this brown stuff will hit your fan, it's only a matter of time because a psychopath - the one's running our planet are never satisfied with stopping when they have enough to pay their bills - no, they always have to have more and we, all of us keep allowing the bullies to rule over us.

Case in point - not only is America to blame - you Brits, your queen is the single biggest land owner in the world. The British Government as well as the Vatican own most of the wealth.

Everyone laughed at David Icke, Jordan Maxwell and those that came up with these wild stories of how the few control the many - only to find that now it's only a matter of time before our enslavement is official.

Didn't you all watch Madonna's performance at halftime?

They are at the point now, where they aren't even hiding their antics because people are so frigging stupid, scared and or compliant.

IF EVERYONE refused to pay their taxes, go to work, rebelled - but it would have to be EVERYONE TOGETHER and that isn't going to happen because with human nature, greed, lust and denial win out every time.



The few (the haves and have mores / George Bush Jr.'s terminology) will have everything and the rest of us will have whatever they deem left over.

What affects my neighbor, what affects the starving people on the street or bombed out cities in a far away country also affect us because we are all interconnected.

They got us again this time because again we all didn't realize or care enough to stand up for our fellow man's rights.

Bradley Manning is another example. He "told on them" and how many of you either don't care or even have swallowed the propaganda that he is a traitor?

We're a sorry lot - we only care about something when it affects us directly and that is how "they" (whoever "they" are) tricked us.

Interesting article here: www.ancestryofman.com...

It has begun...................witness your future and read my location.



Description of video:

Lawmakers in Florida are voting on a piece of legislation that would result in the single largest expansion of for-profit prisons in the country making 20% of the state's correctional system privatized. But looking at past examples across the country, can we say this is about anything else other than money for big business? Ana Kasparian of The Young Turks discusses.

Follow the money trail, ask, who benefits?

We are a prison planet - I use to laugh at Alex Jones and David Icke, not anymore. Deny all you want for it is in your denial that you sentence your children to this coming system.



Music sucks - try to get past that, whoever made this video should have simply let this powerful video speak for itself.........future video makers, leave off the frappy music - you have a important message, allow the words to come through, the music again sucks.

*In recent years, the trend toward privatization, both among state governments and at the federal level has been part of an attempt to address serious budget troubles and crisis-level prison overcrowding by outsourcing more and more corrections operations to private companies.
The move has translated into big business for industry leaders like Corrections Corporation of America (CXW), The Geo Group (GEO) and Cornell Companies, Inc. (CRN) (In the year 2010, The Geo Group and Cornell finalized a merger valued at $730 million).

*THE EXPOSED SERIES includes in the month of August 2010 the following:

CorpThug69 Show "EXPOSED" AIR TOPICS & DATES:

1) African-American's (BIGGEST SELF DECEPTION) (Pt.1 & 2) - *Air on 8/9/2010
2) U.S. Liberty, W.T.F.? (We the Fairytale!) - *Air on 8/16/2010
3) 2012, the MYTH - *Air on 8/16/2010
4) PRISON (BIG BUSINESS) - *Air on 8/21/2010
5) Bi-Polar & PTSD Phenomena -*Air on 8/23/2010
6) Disaster Preparedness - *Air on 8/23/2010
7) SATAN, DEVIL, LUCIFER? *Air on 8/30/2010
8) Paramilitary, GOOD/BAD - *Air on 9/2/2010

reply to post by boncho

There are only a few real laws, don't hurt another person, don't steal from them. The rest are made up garbage. Garbage that is going to create a massive industry.

Someone steals a loaf of bread or sells a couple ounces of a (not hard) drug they go to jail.

Someone steals someone's house (the banks) or pension (company) it's a okay and nobody NOBODY is getting mad enough to stop it.

To hell with our frigging laws and the few that are ALLOWED to control the many.

reply to post by jude11


What do you think is going on the borders. That is why they are trying to build a fence, not just to keep people out.