This quote from America's largest private prison company shows how much the industry fears criminal justice reform
Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
The decision followed a damning Inspector General's report released earlier this month declaring private prisons to be less safe and effective than their government-run counterparts.
Private prison companies have been sharply criticized in the past by prison reform advocates for housing inmates in deplorable conditions and exploiting mass incarceration for profit.
Many such advocates, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, have claimed that the business models of CCA and other private prison companies are reliant on high incarceration rates, creating a massive incentive for said companies to lobby against criminal justice reforms.
This quote, from a 2005 annual CCA report found in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) archives, reemerged in a New Yorker article on Wednesday. The quote appears to validate claims regarding the private prison industry's concern with reform [emphasis ours]:
Our growth is generally dependent upon our ability to obtain new contracts to develop and manage new correctional and detention facilities. This possible growth depends on a number of factors we cannot control, including crime rates and sentencing patterns in various jurisdictions and acceptance of privatization. The demand for our facilities and services could be adversely affected by the relaxation of enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction and sentencing practices or through the decriminalization of certain activities that are currently proscribed by our criminal laws. For instance, any change with respect to drugs and controlled substances or illegal immigration could affect the number of persons arrested, convicted and sentenced, thereby potentially reducing demand for correctional facilities to house them. Similarly, reductions in crime rates could lead to reductions in arrests, convictions and sentences requiring incarceration at correctional facilities.
The CCA's concerns about lower incarceration rates are perhaps best evidenced by its branching out beyond the federal government's Bureau of Prisons (BOP), and into halfway houses, reentry and rehabilitation services, and immigration detention.
In a statement last week, a CCA spokesman noted that the company's contracts with the BOP made up just seven percent of its business.
CCA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
- US buys 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Russia's ally costing on average less than $20,000 each, report says
- 2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- Foreign tourist arrivals in India will cross pre-pandemic level in 2024
- Upcoming smartphones launching in India in May 2024
- Markets rebound in early trade amid global rally, buying in ICICI Bank and Reliance
- Women in Leadership
- Rupee declines 5 paise to 83.43 against US dollar in early trade
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market