For profit prisons as impetus for the Arizona immigration law

[MillCreek]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorials/2013286369_edit29arizona.html


A very interesting story about how lobbyists for private prisons were a key factor in passage of the Arizona immigration law.  This story is being picked up and additional reporting is being done by other media outlets. 

[longeyes]

So opposition to illegal immigration is a scheme by the prison lobby?  Please.

[White Horseradish]

So opposition to illegal immigration is a scheme by the prison lobby?  Please.

It doesn't have to be their scheme for them to benefit from it.

[geronimotwo]

i am in favor of "for profit" prisons if they can do the job for a better price.  as far as illegals go, i would think exporting them would be a more cost effective solution.

[MillCreek]

One of the best quotes in the report is from a member who describes ALEC as "the conservative, free-market-oriented, limited-government group." Yes indeed. Gov. Jan Brewer signed the law in April. Her spokesman and her campaign manager are former lobbyists for private prison companies.

Limited government is best, especially if corporations can profit handsomely from it.  A very good return on investment of lobbying dollars, I would say.

[MillCreek]

i am in favor of "for profit" prisons if they can do the job for a better price.  as far as illegals go, i would think exporting them would be a more cost effective solution.

These detention centers are used to hold suspected illegal immigrants until their cases are decided.  Then they get deported (hopefully).

[MechAg94]

I guess my first thought here is I don't see what the problem is.  :)

[longeyes]

It doesn't have to be their scheme for them to benefit from it.

And police "benefit" from high crime rates.  And welfare system workers "benefit" from poverty. And...and...and...

I just don't buy the fact that Prop. 200 was contrived by the prison lobby and much less that it's even relevant to whether stopping illegal immigration is the right thing to do.  This charge is just another head-fake.

[BridgeRunner]

The trouble is that private prisons have led to high numbers of illegal convictions.  I don't have a cite, but a local (very conservative) juvenile court judge shared a bunch of material about a major scandal in Pennsylvania where a whole bunch of kids were improperly "adjudicated"

When the rights of a large group of people are limited by statute, they become substantially more vulnerable to abuse by the system. When the system has a strong profit motive for imprisoning more people, well, you tend to get people unjustly imprisoned.

I'm not against for-profit prisons or lobbying by them, but it is important to recognize the potential problems and to have excellent oversight and review systems in place.  I don't know enough about the law or AZ state gov't to know if that is in place.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

http://articles.cnn.com/2009-02-23/justice/pennsylvania.corrupt.judges_1_detention-judges-number-of-juvenile-offenders?_s=PM:CRIME


theres your cite  i'd like to give those judges about 15 mins inside the facility after lights out for the boys to counsel them

the 2 judges got 2.6 mill from the private company   thats a lota cash the company must be raking it in

[roo_ster]

The profit motive is one we must be careful when injecting into the justice system.

Private folks contracted out to run a prison is not that big a deal to me.  They had to break the law and bribe thsoe two judges.  Both briber and bribee need a time-out in the pokey.

Asset forfeiture, OTOH, is also abused but is "legal."