Banking on Bondage: Private Prisons and Mass Incarceration
Publication year:
2011
| Cataloged on:
Jan. 06, 2012
ANNOTATION: This report explains why “mass incarceration provides a gigantic windfall for one special interest group—the private prison industry—even as current incarceration levels harm the country as a whole … As the public good suffers from mass incarceration, private prison companies obtain more and more government dollars, and private prison executives at the leading companies rake in enormous compensation packages, in some cases totaling millions of dollars” (p. 5). Three parts follow an executive summary: the private prison explosion—exponential growth, the need for high rates of incarceration, and enormous profits; the false promise of private prisons—supposed cost savings, scant economic benefit for local communities, and limited incentives to curb recidivism and prison violence; and the private prison pitch—questionable financial incentives, the revolving door between public and private corrections, the private prison lobby, campaign contributions, and control of information.
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