Private Prisons: A new type of slavery

By Dorothy Inman-Johnson
Special to the Outlook

Until President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, America’s southern states had slaves and plenty of free labor for their cotton crops, generating huge profits to support the family plantations. It was the way of life in the antebellum South; and life was good for everyone except the slaves_ considered by their owners to be property the same as their livestock and farm equipment. Once slavery was abolished and the slaves were freed, states dependent on slave labor had to look for cheap labor elsewhere. According to an INTERNET Human Rights online Op-Ed, “The popularity of private prisons can be traced back to the abolishment of slavery in America…During reconstruction in the South, the leasing of prisoners to private citizens accommodated the loss of free slave labor.”

 
These work contracts between private prisons and private citizens were called Convict Leases.

 
The same INTERNET article listed “24 Astounding Facts About the Private Prison Industry”. Among them are the following.
_ 33 states have private prisons.

 
_ Between 1990 and 2009, the number of inmates in private prisons increased by 1600 percent.

 
_ By 2011, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and GEO Group, Inc. were the largest prison companies in America, with the CCA CEO receiving a $3.7 million income that year and GEO’s CEO receiving $5.7 million.

 
_ The two major private prison companies earned over $2 billion in 2011.

 
_ Both spend millions in contributions to political campaigns, and lobbying Congress and state legislatures.

 
_ 65 percent of contracts between private prisons and local governments require a lockup quota.

 
The extraordinarily high rate of growth in private prisons in the U.S. started with the Reagan administration’s focus on privatization that continues to be a major platform of the Republican Party today. America has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with a disproportionate number of minorities based on their small percentage in the overall population. Private prisons had the highest growth rate during the 1980s with mass incarceration for non-violent drug offenders.

Wikipedia notes that “the Confederate states of America had an agrarian-based economy that relied heavily on slave labor.” There is just as much of an economic incentive that drives private prisons to keep large numbers of Americans locked up and providing free labor that benefits the wealthy. They are private businesses with a primary goal of profit above all else.  Education, job training, and rehabilitation programs to prepare inmates to live productive lives upon release are almost non-existent in private prisons; because these programs add costs and lower the profit margin. Further, there is a greater incentive to maintain high recidivism rates. Without the constant flow of prisoners, the private prison industry would not generate enough profit for its CEOs and shareholders to justify keeping their doors open. Why else would they require lockup quotas? The mission of government run prisons is, or should be, public safety and rehabilitation.

 
Three private prisons in Pennsylvania were so determined to maintain high incarceration rates and profit that they made a deal with two judges to sentence children to jail/ prison time for petty crimes. This case became known as the “Kids-for-Cash” scandal because the two judges received $2.6 million in bribes for sentencing over 5,000 children to serve time in these private facilities, for crimes for which jail time was not warranted. The judges ended up in prison and the prison companies paid a federal lawsuit settlement of only $2.5 million. Not enough. They should have also received prison sentences.

 
Small rural communities are enticed to become conspirators in keeping fellow citizens incarcerated for longer sentences when their government and the private prison industry sell these prisons as major job creators for their communities. As Vardui Kirakossyan describes it in his paper titled “The Effects of Prison Privatization on U.S. Incarceration Rates and Recidivism”, these communities are placing “profits above people.”

 
The Obama Administration made it a high priority to phase out federal contracts with private prisons by not renewing expired contracts, as part of his Criminal Justice Reform Initiatives. Those reforms also included (1.) judicial discretion to reduce or eliminate mandatory minimum sentencing; (2.) increased job training and drug treatment programs; (3.) restoration of ex-felons’ voting rights; (4.) removal of barriers for jobs for ex-convicts; and (5.) more investments in community policing. Obama’s goal was to make prisons more humane with a goal of preparing inmates for successful re-entry upon release.

 
However, Trump’s new US Attorney General_ Jeff Sessions_ has made it clear he plans to drastically increase the number of private prisons, and ensure they have plenty of prisoners by reinstituting stiff sentences for minor or non-violent drug offenses, rounding up and imprisoning Mexican-American immigrants, and requiring no rehabilitation for prisoners to make sure most will return after release. He will ensure an unlimited supply of free, slave/ prison labor, and that the private prison industry will continue to live high on the hog. America is better than this.

Send comments to dotinman-johnson@hotmail.com.