How does the US make money off of prisons?

They are owned by private for profit corporations who have contracts with local govts to make sure the prison is always full.
 
I suppose the idea behind 'The US making money' (meaning the US government?) Would be that it could save money in some situations. Not sure if that's true, but it is often true when governments decide to contract work out to private companies. I'm sure it is not true in some cases also.

Was curious as to how big the private prison industry was, and according to this in 2013 there was 8.4% of the US prison population held in privately run prisons

"Statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice show that, as of 2013, there were 133,000 state and federal prisoners housed in privately owned prisons in the U.S., constituting 8.4% of the overall U.S. prison population"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_prison

So given that number, the common idea that the US prison population is so high in large part due to private prisons really wouldn't make sense. I can see the incentive of a private prison company wanting more business (more prisoners) but I can't see it being significant enough a factor in the grand scheme of things.
 
Slave labor. And "the U.S." isn't pocketing the profits.
 
GuanoApes said:
I’m sure plenty of you know, USA has the highest incarceration rate and prison population in the world.

I’ve heard that USA makes money off of prisons though.

How is this possible if the average cost of housing an inmate is $31,000 per year? https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ma...rld/how-much-does-it-cost-send-someone-prison
Click to expand...

The country itself doesn't make money. The private prison industry does.

Privatize profits, socialize losses. It's the American (Republican more so than Democrat, but both parties to an extent) way.

I'm also very skeptical about the "it costs the government X-amount to house prisoners." Too often, the statistics are based on somewhat spurious data. It's very definitively a loss on taxpayers, as it should be, but how much is hard to say.
 
Is not the USA in general, but the people who own the or have the access to money to build and operate the prisons. That is who makes the money, not everyone in the Murka. And I guess anyone those people decide to promote.
 
IDL said:
I suppose the idea behind 'The US making money' (meaning the US government?) Would be that it could save money in some situations. Not sure if that's true, but it is often true when governments decide to contract work out to private companies. I'm sure it is not true in some cases also.

Was curious as to how big the private prison industry was, and according to this in 2013 there was 8.4% of the US prison population held in privately run prisons

"Statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice show that, as of 2013, there were 133,000 state and federal prisoners housed in privately owned prisons in the U.S., constituting 8.4% of the overall U.S. prison population"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_prison

So given that number, the common idea that the US prison population is so high in large part due to private prisons really wouldn't make sense. I can see the incentive of a private prison company wanting more business (more prisoners) but I can't see it being significant enough a factor in the grand scheme of things.
Click to expand...

The reason private prisons were created in the first place was to deal with the sudden tidal wave of incoming prisoners due to Clinton’s Three-Strikes laws and the Clinton Crime Bill - something good 'ole Hillary campaigned hard for on behalf of Bill.

And yes, Hillary was all about that private prison lobby (in her '16 election bid) until she was outed by Twitter for being a hypocrite.
 
Good ol Jeff "Civil Forfeiture" Sessions is the patron saint of private prison industry.
 
MMAisGod said:
Ok so I have heard this many times as well as the OP, but never had it fully explained. I get the general idea, but I think I am missing some specifics. Like, for the amount it cost to house the prisoner, how is the private prison industry making money if they work inside. For example, someone help me fill this in.

-Guy gets incarcerated.
-Cost 30k to house prisoner each year for five years
-Prisoner makes Victoria Secrets clothes two hours a day (lol)
-Someone profits (VS or prison owner or someone?)
-Prisoner released five years later.

Ok so am I missing something? How was this 150k worth? This doesn't seem too profitable at all but I always here it's business-like in regards to prisoners.
Click to expand...

Government pays private prisoner owner 30k a year per prisoner

Private prison is able to house each inmate for 16k a year making 14k per prisoner.

Private prison owner donates to local politicians and law enforcement for stricter laws more prisons.

Rinse/repeat.
 
As an outsider it seems absolutely insane to have privatised prisons. What is the incentive to rehabilitate? How much lobbying occurs for stricter penalties? Crazy...
 
it’s like schools making money off enrolled students. government will give these prisons a stipend for each prisoner.

as far as the government making money? they seem to be more interested in spending money not making it.
 
We grind up the best smelling inmates and cut it into the ground beef. Duh.
 
Quequeg said:
They are owned by private for profit corporations who have contracts with local govts to make sure the prison is always full.
Click to expand...
I love sherdog because of threads/posts like this.

Which is why this place will be getting taken over by bad actors some day.
 
Neph said:
As an outsider it seems absolutely insane to have privatised prisons. What is the incentive to rehabilitate? How much lobbying occurs for stricter penalties? Crazy...
Click to expand...

Same can be said for government prisons. What is the financial incentive for them to do their jobs properly? The goodness of their hearts?

At least the invisible hand of the free market ensures efficiency.
 
helltoupee said:
The reason private prisons were created in the first place was to deal with the sudden tidal wave of incoming prisoners due to Clinton’s Three-Strikes laws and the Clinton Crime Bill - something good 'ole Hillary campaigned hard for on behalf of Bill.

And yes, Hillary was all about that private prison lobby (in her '16 election bid) until she was outed by Twitter for being a hypocrite.
Click to expand...

The pivotal point for private prisons was with the war on drugs. Guess who started the war on drugs? Your emperor Ronald Reagen. First with the Reform Act of 1984 which created limitations for probation and parole for certain offenses and mandated longer sentence. Then Reagen and his buddies passed two Anti-Drug Abuse Acts in 1986 and 1988, which increased federal funding for drugs, created harsher penalties for small amounts of drug possession and also created a standard minimal sentence for various criminal offences.

However I do agree the Clinton administration did continue those policies.
 
Prisons are just a scheme for big Ramen Noodle companies to push their products.
 
Thepaintbucket said:
The pivotal point for private prisons was with the war on drugs. Guess who started the war on drugs? Your emperor Ronald Reagen. First with the Reform Act of 1984 which created limitations for probation and parole for certain offenses and mandated longer sentence. Then Reagen and his buddies passed two Anti-Drug Abuse Acts in 1986 and 1988, which increased federal funding for drugs, created harsher penalties for small amounts of drug possession and also created a standard minimal sentence for various criminal offences.

However I do agree the Clinton administration did continue those policies.
Click to expand...

You must have me confused with someone else. I'd say Reagan is one of the worst Presidents we've ever had - however, the war on drugs started with Nixon, not Reagan.

Clinton's reign initiated a bigger increase in the prison population than any other POTUS in history. For sure, he didn't start mass incarceration, but he sure as hell encouraged it.
 
helltoupee said:
Clinton's reign initiated a bigger increase in the prison population than any other POTUS in history. For sure, he didn't start mass incarceration, but he sure as hell encouraged it.
Click to expand...

The level of African-American support for the Clinton Klan has always been very confounding to me. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry during the 2016 Democratic primaries, so depressing.
 
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