For-Profit Prisons

[KingsGambit]

Obviously private prisons incentivize incarceration. Creating a market that depends on crime rates remaining high is not a good thing, especially when the industry is closely related to law enforcement and government.

There was a case in Pennsylvania a few years ago where a judge was getting kickbacks from a private prison, and was sending juvenile offenders to lengthy terms for offenses that would normally be considered fairly minor (and outright not giving them a fair trial). The fact that this was possible to happen even once is enough reason for me to say prisons should not be privatized.

[Teallaura]

Obviously private prisons incentivize incarceration. Creating a market that depends on crime rates remaining high is not a good thing, especially when the industry is closely related to law enforcement and government.

There was a case in Pennsylvania a few years ago where a judge was getting kickbacks from a private prison, and was sending juvenile offenders to lengthy terms for offenses that would normally be considered fairly minor (and outright not giving them a fair trial). The fact that this was possible to happen even once is enough reason for me to say prisons should not be privatized.

Um, KG, that's happened with public prisons as well.

I think we need more open courtrooms - we can publish sentencing and basic demographics w/o compromising confidentiality.

[KingsGambit]

Um, KG, that's happened with public prisons as well.

Where, specifically? The idea of doing this with public prisons makes no intuitive sense.

[Teallaura]

Where, specifically? The idea of doing this with public prisons makes no intuitive sense.

Nationwide, but most depictions of it are in the South - my, bad, I should have specified 'historically'. It has to do with inmate labor. And I do think there are more recent examples but they are rare, if so.

[Sparko]

Is that considered a luxury in the South. TV's capable of color that is?

I'm sorry, its just the way this was put. Maybe you just put the word color in front of TV in general? But now I can't help but imagine a warden insisting on old B&W televisions because its cheaper.

We have seen the guilded cage Denmark has put the mass murderer Breivik in..

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