Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The Problem of For-Profit Jails: One Disturbing Example


I have been so incredible troubled by Prison-For-Profit in this country. The United States has the most individuals per capita in jail out of any other country. At the end of 2007, there were 2,293,157 individuals in jail (see Bureau of Justice Statistics http://www.ojp.gov/bjs/prisons.htm). The prison populations has QUADRUPLED since 1980 in this country.

"The United States has the highest documented per capita rate of incarceration of any country in the world." (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisons_in_the_United_States)

"The United States incarcerates more of its youth than any other country in the world... approximately 500,000—half a million—youth are brought to detention centers in a given year." (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisons_in_the_United_States)

In this story, in a small town in Pennsylvania, judges were putting juveniles into for-profit juvenile detention programs for financial kick-backs adding up to over $2 million.


This is what Pennsylvania tax dollars are going to? I am thoroughly disgusted and distrubed. These are the ones who got caught. How many others are there out there?

Shouldn't we be shocked? Shouldn't we be outraged?