When prison populations mean profit, justice takes a back seat.
Reshared post from +Bill Blonigan
The new Louisiana slave trade: tidbits and lessons from a for-profit prison system
"*Louisiana's incarceration rate is nearly five times Iran's, 13 times China's and 20 times Germany's.*"
"*A majority of Louisiana inmates are housed in for-profit facilities*, which must be supplied with a constant influx of human beings or a $182 million industry will go bankrupt."
"*Each [Louisiana] inmate is worth $24.39 a day* in state money, and sheriffs trade them like horses . . . . A prison system that leased its convicts as plantation labor in the 1800s has come full circle and is again a nexus for profit."
"Locking up as many people as possible for as long as possible has enriched a few while making everyone else poorer. Public safety comes second to profits."
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Louisiana is the world's prison capital
Sheriffs and politicians have financial incentives to keep people locked up
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