Workshop – Facts about the Private Prison Industry
- 33 states across America have private prisons. States with private prisons include the “progressive” states of Massachusetts and New York.
- Between 1990 and 2009, the number of private prison inmates increased by more that 1600%! This makes sense given that 65% of all private prison contracts pay private prisons a set amount of cash per prisoner. AZ, OK, LA and VA all have contracts that require 95% to 100% occupancy in private prisons at all times.
- The two largest private prison companies, CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) and GEO Group have spent over $30 million lobbying congress over the past 30 years. When you include state lobbying the figure is significantly higher. ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council, a front group for a variety of major corporate interests) has been a major advocate for Private Prisons.
- They lobby for high bail amounts, mandatory minimum sentencing and other initiatives to increase the number of those imprisoned.
- Private prisons house 133,000 inmates. This is not including immigrants held in private ICE facilities (half of all detained immigrants).
- Large corporations take advantage of low wages paid to private prisoners. Companies that exploit private prison labor include Boeing, Starbucks, Victoria’s Secret (as seen on Orange is the New Black!), McDonalds, Wendys, Starbucks, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, BP etc.
- Private prisons have been a bi-partisan supported effort. Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee have all received contributions from the Private prison industry. Hillary notably reversed her stance on private prisons after pressure from groups like Black Lives Matter and Democracy Matters.