I will never come to terms with how much hyperbole is being thrown at this (semi-)botched launch. How is the world 'letting' Microsoft have a poor product roll-out strategy? How is Microsoft more nefarious than Blackwater, or the Corrections Corporation of America? How am I more locked out of my PC when Windows stops working than I'm locked out of my DVD player when I have to return the disc I rented?

I mean - I get why people care. I have a McLuhanesque relationship with my PC that I'll never have with my phone or my tablet (devices that regularly force me to upgrade OS, and also 'siphon' personal data), and I can feel actual low levels of anxiety when my PC breaks, even if I don't need it for anything. I just don't get the hyperbole.

http://www.afscme.org/news/publications/privatization/pdf/AFSCME-Report_Making-A-Killing.pdf

Every year, America’s largest private prison companies – The GEO Group, Inc., Corrections
Corporation of America (CCA), and the Management & Training Corporation (MTC)—pour
hundreds of thousands of dollars into the campaigns of governors, state legislators, and judges, in the hopes
of advancing their political agenda—establishing more private prisons and reducing the number of public
ones. Despite significantly higher rates of inmate-on-guard assault, violence, and escapes in broad daylight
in private prisons than in public,[1] these companies’ strategy of pay-to-play has proven successful. A state
think tank in Ohio recently documented a 48 percent increase in private prison inmates between the year
2000 and 2009—leading almost 8 percent of incarcerated Americans to be housed in private prisons by the
end of the decade.[2]

Those who oppose prison privatization make the case that the industry has the incentive and the wherewithal to extend the amount of time convicts will remain in prison, and that this presents a threat to justice. The industry, they say, can extend sentences in two ways. First, it has thrown its influence, through lobbying and campaign contributions, behind “tougher” laws such as "three strikes", mandatory minimum sentencing, and "truth in sentencing" that increase the duration of sentences. The conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has been extremely active in advocating truth-in-sentencing and three strikes policies throughout the United States. This organization is heavily funded by the corrections industry, and indeed ALEC's Criminal Justice Task Force is co-chaired by Brad Wiggins, a former director of business development for the Corrections Corporation of America (Bender, 2000). The strength of these kinds of political influence, opponents fear, will only increase as the industry grows. As one observer notes, corrections corporations have "paid handsomely to play the public policy game, and will likely do so again"(O'Connell, 2002).

The second way opponents of privatization worry that private firms will distort the administration of justice is by exerting undue influence on parole hearings. Opponents argue that since prison firms are generally paid per prisoner per day, they have an incentive to extend inmate stays as long as possible, and so are liable to reduce prisoner’s chances for parole or good time off by exaggerating or fabricating disciplinary infractions (DiIulio, 1990).

Industry supporters point out in response to these concerns that industry campaign contributions are smaller than those made by public sector unions ( Moore, 1998). There is no evidence, they say, of private prison officials manipulating parole decisions.

>> ^tsquire1:

What a fucking tool. Marijuana addiction? addiction?
Y'all know that SB1070 was written by Corrections Corporation of America, right? Y'all know why? Because undocumented people are seen as a source of profit ($200 per bed, per night). Same thing goes for the 'war on drugs'. Its a way for the capitalist scum to profit off our misery.
Fuck 'em


So the brain can't become addicted to the chemical reactions it receives from THC? Is that what you're saying? Why is it so far-fetched to you that marijuana is very much an addictive substance? It may not be as addictive as some other things such as methamphetamines but it most certainly is addictive. ANYTHING can be addictive if the brain sees a reward from it. Gaming, extreme sports, drugs, alcohol, even reading can be addictive. Weed IS addictive and denying that fact is only keeping yourself in the dark.

Of COURSE people make money off of it. What don't people try to capitalize on? That doesn't make it any less true that it's an affliction for many people.

What a fucking tool. Marijuana addiction? addiction?

Y'all know that SB1070 was written by Corrections Corporation of America, right? Y'all know why? Because undocumented people are seen as a source of profit ($200 per bed, per night). Same thing goes for the 'war on drugs'. Its a way for the capitalist scum to profit off our misery.

Fuck 'em

Its not a lack of police to fight drug cartels which is the cause of the violence. That analysis is hollow. You are leaving out the devastating consequences of NAFTA and imperialism on these countries.

Poverty and unemployment have only worsened as a result of subsidies going towards big agrobussiness instead of local farmers. This is what leads to crime. Its a reaction by the working class getting even more fucked. When you can't get any $ by growing corn and instead have the chance to make $ selling drugs, yeah, you do it.

It isn't a coincidence that the majority of immigrants come from countries that have had dictators and death squads with the support of the US. Guatamala, El Salvador, Mexico. Destroyed economies create migrants which are CHEAP LABOR. Add to this the criminalization of immigrants with AZ's SB1070 and GA's copycat HB87. The AZ bill was pretty much written by Corrections Corporation of America, a private prison corporation which gets $200 per bed a night.

Its all part of the imperative of profit, the inherent violence of capitalism, duh
----
Additional reading:

http://blog.sojo.net/2010/10/28/prison-and-profits-the-politics-of-az%E2%80%99s-sb1070-bill-revealed/

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/5/25/harvest_of_empire_new_book_exposes
"And then there's this from independent journalist Zafar Bangash:

"The CIA, as Cockburn and (Jeffrey) St Clair reveal, had been in this business right from the beginning. In fact, even before it came into existence, its predecessors, the OSS and the Office of Naval Intelligence, were involved with criminals. One such criminal was Lucky Luciano, the most notorious gangster and drug trafficker in America in the forties."

The CIA's involvement in drug trafficking closely dovetails America's adventures overseas - from Indo-China in the sixties to Afghanistan in the eighties....As Alfred McCoy states in his book: Politics of Heroin: CIA complicity in the Global Drug Trade, beginning with CIA raids from Burma into China in the early fifties, the agency found that 'ruthless drug lords made effective anti-communists." ("CIA peddles drugs while US Media act as cheerleaders", Zafar Bangash, Muslimedia, January 16-31, 1999)

And, this from author William Blum:

"ClA-supported Mujahedeen rebels ... engaged heavily in drug trafficking while fighting against the Soviet-supported government," writes historian William Blum. "The Agency's principal client was Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, one of the leading druglords and a leading heroin refiner. CIA-supplied trucks and mules, which had carried arms into Afghanistan, were used to transport opium to laboratories along the Afghan/Pakistan border. The output provided up to one half of the heroin used annually in the United States and three-quarters of that used in Western Europe....""


http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=18877

I thought you might be referring to that, but that isn't really what we were talking about. We were talking about private people writing up their own warrants for your arrest and throwing you in jail. Short of debtors prisons, which were still run by the government as a legal response to debt, there isn't a case were private people could kidnap you or fine you for not using their product.

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

^Expect an invoice for my research assistance services.
(From wiki)
Private prisons in the United States today
Private companies in the United States operate 264 correctional facilities, housing almost 99,000 adult offenders.[13] Companies operating such facilities include the Corrections Corporation of America, the GEO Group, Inc, and Community Education Centers. The GEO Group was formerly known as Wackenhut Securities.
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) has a capacity of more than 80,000 beds in 65 correctional facilities. The GEO Group operates 61 facilities with a capacity of 49,000 offender beds,[14]
Most privately run facilities are located in the southern and western portions of the United States and include both state and federal offenders.[13]

^Expect an invoice for my research assistance services.

(From wiki)

Private prisons in the United States today

Private companies in the United States operate 264 correctional facilities, housing almost 99,000 adult offenders.[13] Companies operating such facilities include the Corrections Corporation of America, the GEO Group, Inc, and Community Education Centers. The GEO Group was formerly known as Wackenhut Securities.

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) has a capacity of more than 80,000 beds in 65 correctional facilities. The GEO Group operates 61 facilities with a capacity of 49,000 offender beds,[14]

Most privately run facilities are located in the southern and western portions of the United States and include both state and federal offenders.[13]