Quote:
Originally Posted by mozadek
Private prisons is big business, they're no longer going hard after blacks and latinos, now they're also going after poor whites.
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Yep. The reality is if you are a private prison your profits are determined by how many beds you have full. The only real control you can have over that is hiring lobbyist who can help get tougher sentencing laws passed which will put more people in jail and make certain your profits remain high.
Politicians are more than willing to put these laws forward. They are easy sells to the voters because it makes them look like they are tough on crime, but what you get is someone who made one minor mistake ending up getting a mandatory minimum of 5 or 10 years and if you don't have serious money to fight it you are in serious trouble.
I have a friend who recently was accused of a crime he didn't commit. At the time of the incident the police handcuffed him and detained him then after talking to everyone determined their was no evidence to charge him with anything so they let him go. The person accusing him made a Facebook page asking for supporters and called all the local media about it. Under pressure the prosecutor's office decided to charge him. He and his wife drained every penny from their savings account paying for a lawyer and finally the lawyer got him a plea deal that was a slap on the wrist, but he now has a conviction for a misdemeanor on his record and it cost him thousands of dollars. Had he decided to fight it in court and lost it would have been at least 3-5 years and jail.