Has America Become a Corporate Police State?

[noah way]

Has America Become a Corporate Police State?

 

[ElasticNinja]

I was shocked when I heard there were private prisons I'm the US a few months ago
That's just crazy... and goes someway to explaining how such a wealthy developed country has so many imprisoned

 

[mdram]

I was shocked when I heard there were private prisons I'm the US a few months ago
That's just crazy... and goes someway to explaining how such a wealthy developed country has so many imprisoned

because its like a country club, some think its a vacation
it even adds to their street cred

 

[ElasticNinja]

because its like a country club, some think its a vacation
it even adds to their street cred

I can't remember the last time you addressed someones post after quoting them

 

[nlsme]

because its like a country club, some think its a vacation
it even adds to their street cred

Cant have anything to do with "the war on drugs" can it? Better to have them in prison, costing the taxpayer <$100,000 a year, over them being on welfare at the tune of >$10,000 a year.

 

[netlinkz]

Well,there was this movie years back, can't remember it, but it was about how prisons were sooo over populated nothing could be done. Like aaaalways there a genius that comes up with a simplified idea of having all prisoners put on an island and have the island quarantined to where the prisoners can't get off. Pretty much the island became an haven of gangs. They all killed eachother......lol...i have no idea where i was going with this.....carry on peasants

 

[ElasticNinja]

^ theres been several of that sub-sub genre
Always the good guys who the authorities ignore in them

 

[mdram]

escape from new york comes to mind

 

[vailpass]

escape from new york comes to mind

As does Australia.

 

[noah way]

because its like a country club, some think its a vacation
it even adds to their street cred

Maybe you should try it and report back to us.

The Truth About Private Prisons

"For-profit prison companies like CCA have always presented themselves as both cheaper and better than the traditional publicly owned prisons, staffed by state employees. However, from the mayhem and murders at the prison in Youngstown, Ohio, which eventually led to the company paying $1.6 million to prisoners to settle a lawsuit, to a series of wrongful death civil suits, and numerous disturbances and escapes, the authors document in detail a staggering range of failures of prison management.

• failure to provide adequate medical care to prisoners;
• failure to control violence in its prisons;
• substandard conditions that have resulted in prisoner protests and uprisings;
• criminal activity on the part of some CCA employees, including the sale of illegal drugs to prisoners; and
• escapes, which in the case of at least two facilities include inadvertent releases of prisoners who were supposed to remain in custody.

Many of the company's problems are blamed on its labor policies. Because prisons are very labor intensive institutions, the only way a company like CCA can sell itself to government as a cheaper option than public prisons while still making a profit, is by using as few staff as possible, paying them as little as possible, and not spending much on training.

...

CCA has been quite successful in recent years in influencing the public debate and winning the support of legislators. Of course, it is not hard to win legislators when you back up your arguments with hard cash. The company spends hundreds of thousands of dollars during each state election cycle to try to gain access and build support for its projects. At the federal level, CCA has given more than $100,000 in soft money to the Republican Party since 1997 as well as political action committee contributions to individual members of key Congressional committees."

 

[Gmash]

I live in Ohio, and I think privatizing prisons is one of the most asinine ideas ever conceived (for-profit charter schools being another). Unfortunately, the Republicans think the only function of government should be doling out money to their buddies in the private sector. They are also selling off our highways to private companies to allow them to charge tolls to use them. A private company taking pictures of our license plates and sending out speeding and red light tickets while keeping 80% of the money? Sure, why not. I'm sure there was no corruption involved in getting that contract, right?

 

[ElasticNinja]

Toll roads are odd
Some work great while others are utter failures
Don't know what to think of them, but I'd prefer if less roads were tolled and they just increased road taxes

 

[Bugly]

time to go back to the "hard labor" days. This is neither cruel, nor unusual punishment compared to the acts the criminals have played out. in fact, the hard labor is a cake-walk compared to what some have done to their victims. Go back to hard labor, take the cushy lifestyle away, and the crime rate WILL go down. Right now, it's far easier to spend time in prison than it is to live on the outside.
I know enough former inmates to back this claim up.

 

[batgeek]

bu-bu-bu-bu-but what about the prisoner's rights?

 

[ElasticNinja]

time to go back to the "hard labor" days. This is neither cruel, nor unusual punishment compared to the acts the criminals have played out. in fact, the hard labor is a cake-walk compared to what some have done to their victims. Go back to hard labor, take the cushy lifestyle away, and the crime rate WILL go down. Right now, it's far easier to spend time in prison than it is to live on the outside.
I know enough former inmates to back this claim up.

In China they do hard labour by day and gold farm on internet games by night

 

[noah way]

time to go back to the "hard labor" days.

How about hard labor for "white collar" crimes?

John Ensign
Larry Craig
Jack Abramoff
Andrew Fastow
Randy "Duke" Cunningham
Jeffrey Skilling
Bernard Madoff
Charles Rangel