Reading this story on ThinkProgress.org, you almost forget they are talking about human lives.
The CEO of Geo Group, the Florida-based private prison company that operates facilities across the US, including the Florida Civil Commitment Center for Civilly Committed Sex Offenders who are held indefinitely, was talking about how happy he was about the company’s third quarter results. Essentially, they are pleased by the growing incarceration rate and he describes it as follows:
“We continue to actively market this available bed capacity and believe there are a number of opportunities to deploy these assets,” Zoley said, explaining those extra 7,000 available beds could generate between $50 million and $60 million in revenue if they’re “fully utilized.”
It’s says something about a company’s culture and society, for that matter, when incarcerating individuals and immigration detainees is described as an “opportunity”.
I was incarcerated at one of GEO’s prisons and they do put the almighty dollar first before inmates and even staff so their attitude shouldn’t have surprised me
Yet, we sit here and think we can get our vindication by lawsuits and challenges in THEIR OWN court system that companies like this lobby with and control. As long as this system continues, there is no hope for any significant change. Sorry. It is what it is.
You are totally correct. The system is fully in place and it and the government have become one and the same.
There is no escape from this. None – we lost.
So you see….the real animals are outside of the bars.
It’s a shame when a human being becomes a dollar sign
Is this about the United States or China? Maybe the outer reaches of Russia where ‘residents’ are needed for labor? This man is a major part of the problem.
Actually Capt. we have more (far more) incarcerated than either of those countries you named. We have for years.
Yeah, actually that era of Russia you are referencing had about the same incarceration rate as the US has today. We are only slightly behind at the moment. Think about that for a second….The US incarceration rate is roughly equivalent to that of Gulag-era Soviet Russia. Heck, some of our states have already left Solzhenitsyn’s Archipelago in the dust.
Here’s a quick and easy chart:
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/global/2016.html
I notice China isn’t on that list (unless I missed it) but last estimate I read–some time ago– was around 218 per 100k.
Sometimes it hurts to look in the mirror. This is what we are.
I’m surprised that Floriduh is as far down the list as it is (#9). As long as the federal government subsidizes state law enforcement agencies, the high incarceration rates will continue. Maybe we should ask Prez to cut them off like he’s doing with health care and education.
Yes, and one huge difference between China, Russia (and most other countries), and the US is that in the other countries when a person serves their sentence they are done. No label, no felony convictions following them for the rest of their lives.
The inmates at the Florida Civil Commitment Center, who already completed their prison sentence, are nothing more than opportunities to GEO.