The Prison Industrial Complex

THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

The Problem

References

Corrections Corporation of America

Alexander, Michelle. 2010. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. NY: New Press.

American Legislative Exchange Council. 2013. About ALEC.

Brewer R.M., Heitzeg N.A. (2003). The racialization of crime and punishment: Criminal justice, color-blind racism, and the political economy of the prison industrial complex. American Behavioral Scientist, 51 (5) , pp. 625-644.

Corrections Corporation of America. 2013. Meet CCA.

Critical Resistance. 2013. http://criticalresistance.org/about/not-so-common-language/

Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2011). Prisoners in 2010. Washington DC.

Karlin, M. 2013. How the Prison-Industrial Complex Destroys Lives. Truthout

Lava, J., Solon, Sarah. 2013. The Biggest, Baddest Prison Profiteer of Them All. Huffington Post.

Families Against Mandatory Minimums. 2013. http://famm.org/mandatory-sentencing/what-experts-say/

PEW Center on the Stares. (2008). One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008. Washington DC.

Sharp, Ansel M, Charles A. Register, and Paul W. Grimes. "Economics of Social Issues." NY: McGraw-Hill.

- The United States has 5% of the world's population but 25% of all prison inmates (PEW 2008)

- The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world (1 in 100 adults are in prison or jail; for every 100,000 in the population, there are 751 people in Federal or state prions or jails) (PEW 2010)

- There is a disproportionate representation of people of color within the U.S. Criminal Justice System (50% of all prisoners are African American, 30% white, and 20% Latino) (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2011)

- The largest for-profit prison system

- Vision- "to be the best full-service adult corrections system"

- The CCA made $1.7 billion last year alone

- Claim to save us tax money

How Does Privatization of Prisons Happen?

One of two ways:

1. Building a new prison

2. Buying old prisons

*The more inmates in prisons, the more money corporations make.

What is the Prison Industrial Complex?

American Legislative Exchange Council

The prison industrial complex is a self-perpetuating machine where the vast profits (...) and perceived political benefits (...) lead to policies that are additionally designed to insure an endless supply of "clients" for the criminal justice system (...)" (Brewer and Heitzeg 2008).

Policies

- Passes bills to help corporations, like CCA prosper

- Passed over 85 bills to promote the privatization of prisons

- Insists that U.S. prisons are over-crowded and more prisons is a must.

War on Drugs -

- President Nixon declared the War on Drugs - it comes from an intense policy initiative that the government believed was necessary; drugs became the number 1 enemy, which increased enforcement in relation to drugs.

Supply

Policies

Demand

The supply of laborers occur through a funnel. It starts with policies that prison lobbyists push through the government. The ones like War on Drugs policies set up colored and poor communities to fall into the criminal justice system.

Mandatory Minimum Sentencing -

These laws require a particular length in prison for people convicted of certain federal/state crimes - most are related to drugs.

There is a public notion that more prison demands are due to a large amount of crimes. Behind the scene of the corporate world, Board of Directors of private prisons are constantly finding new ways to provide an endless supply of prisoners. The real demand comes directly from corporate owners who wants to maximize their shareholders and their own profits.

"For the supply of prisoners to grow criminal justice policies must insure a sufficient number of incarcerated individuals Americans whether crime is rising or the incarceration is necessary" (Donzinger, 1996).

- Undermine justice by preventing judges from fitting the punishment to the individual and the seriousness of the offense.

How We Define Crime

Immoral or illegal acts.

1. Violent crimes

2. Crimes against property

3. Traffic and illegal goods and services

4. Other crimes