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Incarceration Of The United States

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The United States of America has more people incarcerated than any other country on earth, a whopping 2,220,300 adults are currently locked behind bars. We have 500,000 more citizens locked up than China, a country 5 times our population run by an authoritarian government. From 1990 - 2000 the prison population increased by 1,000,000. The main reason for incarceration as a punishment in this country is rehabilitation, or so we have been told. In recent years an industry has developed that revolves around high incarceration rates and lengthy sentences, needless to say business is booming. The for-profit prison industry now makes millions off the backs of American inmates their families and every American taxpayer. The two largest …show more content…

For-profit prisons benefit from the strict enforcement of laws and lengthy sentences. These corporations are not interested in rehabilitating inmates they are more concerned with keeping their beds full and making a buck off inmates and their families. Anything else could be bad for business. This outlook runs counter to what should be a rehabilitative mission of the nation’s criminal justice system. Instead, private prison contracts often require the government to keep the correctional facilities and immigration detention centers full, forcing communities to continuously funnel people into the prison system, even if actual crime rates are falling. Nearly two-thirds of private prison contracts mandate that state and local governments maintain a certain occupancy rate – usually 90 percent – or require taxpayers to pay for empty beds.
With all the money these corporations bring in much is spent to influence politics with hefty campaign contributions and corporate lobbying in Washington. All of this is business to them, helping individuals that will push their agenda get into high places politically is just the tip of the iceberg. 28 states now have something called the "three strikes or habitual offender laws" These laws make it possible to send anyone to prison for life on their third felony charge regardless of the circumstances. They need to make sure convictions rates stay sky high to keep the commodities coming. CCA inmates had time

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