The Evils of For-Profit, "Private," Prisons —Christians Against Prohibition

Another Sunday; another group of religious people against private prisons; a group that points out Georgia is already number one in locking people up.

Christians Against Prohibition is a nondenominational organization and website that welcomes everyone no matter what your perspective on God or the War on Drugs. Here at the website you will find educational materials — from an areligious as well as Christian perspective — as to why the Drug War and drug prohibition exacerbates every ill the prohibitionists decry, what can be done about it, and what you can do about it. (Hint: Legalize and Regulate.)

CAP has a three-point mission statement:

1. Heal the Sick
2. Free the Captives
3. Shine Light in the Dark
4. Deal with Dissent

They explain each point in practical and biblical terms.

And they spell out their position on the subject topic, The Evils of For-Profit, "Private," Prisons:

So here we are. According to the Pew Center for the States, in 2007 the United States, which has 5% of the world’s population, has 25% of the world’s prisoners. This equates to 1 prisoner out of 31 people in the US.

Some states are drastically higher. According to a CNN article, Georgia has 1 in 13 adults in the states “corrections” system.

So one could ask, ”Wasn’t it foreseeable that prisons would be like every other ‘private’ business that exists to earn a profit? And to seek to earn more and more profits?”

I am certain, not only has a for-profit prison system been the inspiration for increasingly tough laws, but it has also caused corruption and conflict of interest. This CNN article describes one such case, I am sure there are others we don’t know about yet. (Yahoo link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090211/ap_on_re_us/courthouse_kickbacks)

That's right, according to CNN's 2 March 2009 story Study: 7.3 million in U.S. prison system in '07, which draws from the Pew Center on the States report One in 31,

Georgia tops the nation, with 1 in 13 adults in the state's corrections system

Georgia number one in locking people up!

While Georgia's schools fail and the legislature defunds them.

And now the state wants to hand over all that tax money to private companies for their private profit by locking people up instead of educating people. Private profit that gives incentive to private prison companies to keep locking up more people at public tax expense.

That doesn't seem right to CAP. Does it seem right to you?

-jsq

Comments

[Acevedodante]

The sad thing is that "The War on Drugs" is a misnomer at best and a cunning use of language for the purposes of misleading the public into thinking that this is a good thing. All wars are wars against people, this is no different. Prohibition has only served one function--the punitive "judicial" industrial complex and tertiary interests, i.e. private (for profit) prisons, the black market(price inflation), armament manufacture, asset seizures, and the whole suite of personnel that happily find employment. It's all about government making profit at the expense of the populace.