Just in case you thought that the Prisons were about CRIME.....

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   Wesman Todd Shawposted 12 years ago

   You were just EFFING wrong - we've got a Prison industrial complex just like we have a Military Industrial Complex.
   
   Prisons aren't about Justice or Crime - they are ONLY about money.
   
   Poor persons are so disproportionately represented in jail for stupid, non violent "crimes" that if I have to tell you about it - you're just dumb.
   
   ....Dick Cheney makes money every time someone gets locked up in a private prison - then he reinvests that money into more laws which create a "demand" for more prisons - which he makes MORE profit from....
   
   ....and lets not forget the slave labor items folks are paid thirty cents per hour to produce as slaves in America's warehousing for profit of persons....
   
   And THEN, there's THIS!
   
   http://jonathanturley.org/2011/09/05/ar … r-friends/

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      Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yep, stockholders own the prisons and lease them out to state governments.  I think I remember something about Barbara Bush owning stock in prisons in Texas.  Big money to stay in those always popular retreats.  Just not for the residents. 

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   Cagsilposted 12 years ago

   There was an Episode of Leverage and it was about bringing down a corrupt Prison owner and 4 State Judges which were on the take, just so common citizens were locked up for longer sentences than should have been.
   
   It seemed pretty plausible that it could happen or be happening. I would not be shocked.

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   kimberlyslyricsposted 12 years ago

   $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

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   barryrutherfordposted 12 years ago

   Indeed instead of Prisons being places of correction they have become  Universities of institutionalisation and dependency.

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      Wesman Todd Shawposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      .....and don't forget - places to learn how to commit crimes you'd never considered before.
      
      Lots of folks get busted for some nonsense - but NEVER got caught doing the real dirt that they do.

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   Evan G Rogersposted 12 years ago

   Yeah, prisons make money - but who's the entity making "picking a weed and smoking it" illegal?
   
   Blame government, not profits.

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      Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Ron Paul, right? 

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         Wesman Todd Shawposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I dunno WTF Evan is talking about when he denounces OWS - but I agree with him that Government is maybe more the problem than capitalism.
         
         But what about corporate person hood?  That's corruption at it's finest - and without it, we wouldn't have this private prison mess, nor a lot of the other profit driven problems at the expense of American's lives.

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            Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Sure, crime pays the right folks because of unenforceable and unwanted laws which keep the lawyers, judges, police, prisons and their employees, politicians, pharmaceutical companies, and organized crime well paid.  Thar's gold in them thar jails.   

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               Evan G Rogersposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Either way: Blame government, not corporations.

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      mikelongposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      But remember, it was profits that drove to make the weed illegal...  The Mellon family in cahoots with DuPont with a twist of Hearst...

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         Evan G Rogersposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Of course it was profits that made it illegal.
         
         But only GOVERNMENT can send troops into your home to arrest you. No company could ever get away with that.
         
         Blame government.

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   recommend1posted 12 years ago

   The whole recently built private system that doubled the capacity to imprison people was preparation - your privately owned government corporation and the business corporations and the banking corporations have been planning things for quite a few years it would appear.  What comes next do you think ?   Concentration camps probably, martial law in some areas, curfews, house imprisonment for political prisoners, troops pulled out of all the places they shouldn't be employed at home ?
   
   All those freedoms people on here have been squealing about seem to have gone out of the window in the US and the UK without hardly a whimper  !!

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      Wesman Todd Shawposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yep.
      
      I blame the media the most - people believe bullshit more willingly than they'll believe the truth of anything.

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         recommend1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Yep - and the media are owned by the same people that own everything else.

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      Emile Rposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Ok. Your post is over the top. But there is a problem with the system here. It's all about money. Top to bottom. If you fork over a couple thousand to a lawyer, you get  a stay out of a jail free card. If you don't, then off you go. It's all bs now.

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         recommend1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Over the top ?  The few Americans I have talked to who are afraid to go back to the states because they have spoken out or successfully protested would not agree with you.  The family of one guy who protested Iraq at a military base would not agree after their visit from Homeland Security grilling them about their son who might be a 'terrorist' !

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   Wesman Todd Shawposted 12 years ago

   Yup.
   
   Profit is everything - more for me - less for you, and fuck everyone else - is the unspoken motto.

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   jcmayer777posted 12 years ago

   I'm lucky enough to work in an old fashion jail.  So far, the temptation to outsource food service, medical service, and just about everything else has been resisted...but it's only a matter of time.  Even at the small jail I work at, REVENUE is touted and ways to generate it are explored.
   
   County government is not that much different than the corporate world.

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      recommend1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      They are controlled by the corporate world already - so robably is even your local newspaper.  Have you checked lately who owns it ?  You might be one of the lucky trivial % that still has a local owner, most of them are already owned by some branch of a corporation.

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         carol3sanposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         A few months back there was a judge that got into trouble for sending  juveniles to some sort of boot camp.  It turned out that he was being paid thousands of dollars for sentencing the young kids to the boot camp for no good reason at all.  Now I suppose he is serving time in jail himself, along with his cohorts.  And that is exactly where they all need to be.

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            recommend1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I guess he was just openly doing what the system is doing automatically for the financial benefit of your owners    Amazing how the morals of the top filter down to the rest.

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            Wesman Todd Shawposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I so loved that story that I can't even express it.  I do know exactly who you're talking about to!

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   TheManWithNoPantsposted 12 years ago

   Randy, long time bro.  How ya been?!
                           jim

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      Randy Godwinposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Hello Jim!  Fine as frog's hair so far!  Hope you're doin' good? 

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