Republicans And Democrats Have Created The Land Of Prisons – We Want Answers

The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate in the world, surpassing China, North Korea and Russia. A study conducted by the Bureau of Justice in 2005 showed that a record 33-year continuous rise in the number of inmates in the United States despite falling crime rates. Below are some jaw-dropping facts about the United States prison population.

1. Consider that for every $1 Americans spend on higher education in the USA, they spend .60 cents on prison facilities.
2. Collectively, the States and Federal government spend about 74 billion a year on corrections, and nearly 800,000 people who work in the industry.
3. Nearly 25 % of the world’s people being incarcerated behind bars are Americans.
4. 1 out of 32 Americans is on probation, parole or in prison.
5. A total 7,225,800 adults were under correctional supervision in 2009 (about 3.1% of US Adults).
6. Of these, 4,933,667 adults were on probation or parole.
7. According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics, there are over 2,266,800 adults incarcerated in US Federal and States prisons today.
8. 86,927 juveniles were in detention as of 2007.
9. A black male is 7x more likely to be imprisoned than a white male.
10. Prison rape is so endemic that more than 70,00 prisoners are raped each year.  US Department Of Justice says these incidents happen more by officer than of other inmates.

Most of this information was gathered by blacklistednews.com

While private prison companies may try to present themselves as just meeting existing ‘demand‛ for prison beds and responding to current ‘market‛ conditions, in fact they have worked hard over the past decade to create markets for their product. As revenues of private prison companies have grown over the past decade, the companies have had more resources with which to build political power, and they have used this power to promote policies that lead to higher rates of incarceration. …

While private prison companies may claim that changes in criminal justice legislation are “outside our control,” they are in fact engaged in a number of activities aimed at increasing their control of the market; this includes applying political pressure to lawmakers, working to influence elections, and building relationships within agencies or with government officials to directly formulate policy. …

In order to ensure that they have a stable or increasing ‚market share‛ of incarceration (and therefore increasing revenue), private prison companies engage in a political game to influence policy and incarceration. Over the last two decades private prison companies have developed a three-pronged approach to influence incarceration policy and secure government contracts. Through campaign contributions, lobbying and building relationships and associations, private prison companies engage in an aggressive political strategy to influence criminal justice policies in ways that lead to more people in prison and more money in their pockets. …

One way to do that is to make direct, monetary contributions to political campaigns for elected officials and specific policies.

How much? A bundle. In the past five election cycles, the three biggest companies in the private prison industry have contributed $835,514 to federal candidates and $6,092,331 to state politicians. Democrats received 31.8 percent of the money, Republicans got 59.1 percent, and 8.7 percent went to ballot measures, according to the institute.

Lobbying is a big part of the industry’s approach. CCA had 41 lobbyists in just three states—Tennessee, Nevada and Florida—from 2003 to 2010. The institute found it impossible to track all the money spent on lobbying at the state level by these companies as a consequence of widely differing disclosure laws. With the arrival of the “Citizens United” ruling, that task will not become easier.

The “revolving door” also benefits the private prison industry, with many former government officials joining prison companies the same way ex-colonels and ex-generals join the weapons industry upon retirement, and for the same reason: influence among their former colleagues. It works in the other direction, too, of course. One example cited in the institute’s report is Stacia Hylton, director of the United States Marshals Service.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/06/25/988397/-Report-Private-prison-companies-boost-incarceration-rates-for-profit

Now someone please tell me with the arrival of Citizens United how were these corporations supplying so much money before the arrival?  We have become a sick country with this large rate of incarceration for profit.  

• Other countries do not respect us, they think we are American Pigs.  When are we going to make a change in this barbaric system?