Found this a while ago on the Republic Report – a website worth bookmarking for their coverage of everything!
5. Selling Prisons To The Highest Bidder: ALEC has worked closely with its private prison industry sponsors to increasingly privatize the U.S. prison system. It has also pushed harsh laws related to illegal immigration that would put more immigrants in the jails of the very same private prisons that fund ALEC.
Over and over gain in the news - even this week - Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) backs away from their relationship with ALEC. Every time I read something like that I get pissed off - occasionally I write about it.
Inside ALEC | November/December 2010
Inside ALEC | November/December 2010
Justice Reinvestment: Corrections is the second fastest growing budget item behind only Medicaid at more than $50 billion a year nationally.
1992 Annual Report of the American Legislative Exchange Council
ALEC'S PRIVATE SECTOR MEMBERSHIP
Corrections Corporation of America
1993 Annual Meeting Booklet
ALEC's Private Sector Members
Corrections Corporation of America
1997 Annual Meeting Booklet
MADISON Club
Corrections Corporation of America
American Legislative Exchange Council
Public Safety & Elections Task Force
Annual Meeting
August 7, 2010
Attendees:
Private Sector (13)
Laurie Shanblum, CCA
At least 18 years of ALEC membership – getting legislation passed to increase the profits of CCA.
At least 18 years of making sure that states and the federal government turned over their prisons and their prisoners to a private company – that allowed taxpayer dollars to go into the coffers of a private company.
Think about it
$50 Billion dollar a year industry.
Inside ALEC | November/December 2010
Justice Reinvestment: Corrections is the second fastest growing budget item behind only Medicaid at more than $50 billion a year nationally.
$50 Billion dollar a year industry.
$50 Billion
And that dollar amount is not too far off - ALEC dollar crunching bean counters - know how to figure out the profits for their corporate profit sector members when it comes to privatizing government goods and services.
Private Prisons Spend $45 Million On Lobbying, Rake In $5.1 Billion For Immigrant Detention Alone
Private Prisons Spend $45 Million On Lobbying, Rake In $5.1 Billion For Immigrant Detention Alone
By Aviva Shen on Aug 3, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Nearly half of all immigrants detained by federal officials are held in facilities run by private prison companies, at an average cost for each detained immigrant is $166 a night. That’s added up to massive profits for Corrections Corporation of America
A decade ago, more than 3,300 criminal immigrants were sent to private prisons under two 10-year contracts the Federal Bureau of Prisons signed with CCA worth $760 million. Now, the agency is paying the private companies $5.1 billion to hold more than 23,000 criminal immigrants through 13 contracts of varying lengths.
5. Selling Prisons To The Highest Bidder: ALEC has worked closely with its private prison industry sponsors to increasingly privatize the U.S. prison system. It has also pushed harsh laws related to illegal immigration that would put more immigrants in the jails of the very same private prisons that fund ALEC.
From a December 1997 ALEC publication describing the “Efficiency in Government Act”:
Efficiency cannot be achieved if government is permitted to act as a monopoly, with no competitive incentive to reduce costs or improve services.
The reality
Private prisons, touted as a cost-efficient alternative to state-run penitentiaries, are not living up to their promises in at least one state. A new study of Arizona
According to the Tucson Citizen’s analysis of Arizona Arizona
But yet - you have the government - both state and federal as CCA's main bread and butter - as noted in their 2010 10-K.
And their biggest risk to revenue - and CCA's survival - are the same government agencies- so I have to ask myself - what's going to happen now that CCA is supposedly not a member of the kill at will gang anymore. But then again - maybe they still are - we don't know for sure because the membership rolls of ALEC are - secret.
But it seems like the Feds - have a cozy relationship with CCA.
I can't help wondering if this guy is or was an ALEC member (my emphasis) - pretty gallant with taxpayers dollars here.
But ICE Executive Associate Director for Enforcement and Removal Operations Gary Mead said the government has never studied whether privatizing immigrant detention saves money.
"They are not our most expensive, they are not our cheapest" facilities, he said. "At some point cost cannot be the only factor."
One fundamental difference between private detention facilities and their publicly run counterparts is transparency. The private ones don't have to follow the same public records and access requirements.
SNIP
To deter illegal border crossers, federal prosecutors are increasingly charging immigrants with felonies for repeatedly entering the country without papers. That has led thousands of people convicted of illegal re-entry, as well as more serious federal offenses, to serve time in private prisons built just for them.
A decade ago, more than 3,300 criminal immigrants were sent to private prisons under two 10-year contracts the Federal Bureau of Prisons signed with CCA worth $760 million. Now, the agency is paying the private companies $5.1 billion to hold more than 23,000 criminal immigrants through 13 contracts of varying lengths.
CCA was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2000 due to lawsuits, management problems and dwindling contracts. Last year, the company reaped $162 million in net income. Federal contracts made up 43 percent of its total revenues, in part thanks to rising immigrant detention.
Hmmmmmmmmm.
That ALEC membership and relationships with ALEC legislators and alumni, must've been good for CCA during the decade of 2000 - 2010.
From the comments of a Think Progress Article:
Private prison industry, private education industry, private military industry, yet they call Democrats the ones living on the government teat?
Nope – American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) Corporate Profit Sector members - living on the government teat
Yesterday, Mike Papantonio said something like:
When the market is corrupted - the market can not work as it should.
The American Legislative Exchange Council - through the things they do - corrupt the market - so the free-market spiel that ALEC gives out to press could really be interpreted as a bunch of free-market bullshit.
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