March 28, 2011 | 4:45 PM | By

Immigration: the next prison boom

FILED UNDER: Corrections, Corrections Corporation of America, Immigration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Private Prisons

John Burnett’s piece on today’s Morning Edition covered some Texas towns’ disillusionment with private prisons and jails. Texas has more privately run correctional facilities than any other state. As Burnett points out, small towns all over the state allowed (and in some cases, courted) companies like GEO Group and the Corrections Corporation of America only to find that once beds weren’t being filled in all these new jails and prisons, the structures became economic blights on the community.

Meanwhile, private prisons have become a $5 billion dollar industry. With a downward trend in incarceration, how has the private sector continued to grow?

A related piece in Business Week a couple weeks ago explains the phenomenon. In his story, “A Boom Behind Bars,” Graeme Wood illustrates how CCA and other private prison operators are cashing in on the crackdown on illegal immigration– sparking a new prison boom. Wood writes that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) pays CCA “about $90 a day per person to keep immigrants behind bars and to manage every aspect of detainees’ lives, running its prison much as the government does. The main difference is that CCA locks people up for profit.”

And, according to public employee unions and prisoners rights groups, the profitable nature of the enterprise creates a built in conflict of interest: “When every prisoner is a daily $100 bill, say these opponents, you’ll do everything you can to get as many of them as you can.”

Wood, who visited a facility in Texas, found some merit in that point:

“Last year we removed more criminals out of this office than from any office across the country,” Tai Nguyen, the ICE assistant field office director, says with some pride, as he leads a tour through the Houston Processing Center. “And typically, we always exceed last year’s numbers.” The CCA facility’s volume has grown so fast that in 2005, as the illegal immigrant crackdown began in earnest, it underwent an expansion and overhaul that doubled its bed space. In that year alone, ICE nationwide increased its demand for beds from 19,000 spaces to 27,000, as a result of stricter enforcement of immigration law under Michael Chertoff’s Homeland Security Dept.

Further fueling the argument, NPR reported last year that CCA lobbied to pass SB 1070, Arizona’s controversial plan for immigration crack-down–a story they say is overblown.

But “whether or not CCA is responsible for the recent surge in demand,” Wood writes, “the boom is under way.”

  • http://whyihatecca.blogspot.com Mike

    CCA is a despicable company. They cut corners in every area of operations, from staffing and maintenance to programming and medical care. They rarely if ever actually garner the cost-savings for governments that they promise. And they literally campaign for stricter sentencing laws, which have contributed to America having the highest rate, and real numbers, of incarcerated people in the entire world.
    For way more on how terrible CCA is, and how the private prison industry is destroying our criminal justice system, check out http://whyihatecca.blogspot.com

  • Anonymous

    The Illegal Immigration War at Home

    The 14th Amendment clarifies that any child born on the soil of the United States, has immediate citizenship and all the benefits that is commanded by that law. Until this law is amended of rescinded the repercussions on this country are immense, spending in the billions of dollars each year. Many pregnant women lie to the Immigration and Customs official at airport terminals or just slip across the US borders, in the dead of night. Illegal immigration has become a controversial issue, as painful as the unemployment issue. After the 1986 Immigration Control and Reform Act, the American people expected the federal government to enforce the laws, which included severe penalties for businesses that hired illegal workers; instead the US people were financially-raped. Instead millions of Guest Workers received amnesty then left their farming jobs and vanished into the workforce nationwide. Those numbers that received amnesty, snowballed the chain migration, bring in family members that taxpayers now pay. At one point the Administration was going to allow illegal workers to raid the US Social Security System and Medicare, but any thought of this has been killed at this moment. NO SPECIAL PRIVILEGES WILL BE GIVEN TO ILLEGAL ALIENS , UNDER POLICIES OF THE TEA PARTY.

    Since then-SIX-other furtive amnesties has slipped by public notice and that doesn’t include the importation of approximately 1.5 million legal immigrants annually. By revising the 14th amendment the billions of dollars in education, health care, food stamps, Medicaid, Section 8 housing, cash payments and other undisclosed welfare programs could cease.In some States illegal aliens can collect Worker’s compensation and unemployment benefits. All that money could be diversified to senior Citizens, who haven’t received no cost of living payment in two years. Veterans living under bridges or in shelters could be allocated the low income homes that illegal parents allowed to stay, get preference for their offspring born here. All these public services and entitlements have been drawn away from the US workers, who paid into the system since the beginning of their working life. No matter what the pessimists and open border zealots say, every taxpayer would be willing to pay a few cents more to stop the fraudulent-oriented Guest worker programs.

    Taxpayer are being ripped-off by paying for those agricultural laborers when they get sick or injured, as the farmer is not obligated to pay for their children’s education the families health care. This has become a financially vicious circle that will not end, with either the deep entrenched Liberal-Democrats, Republicans or any political entity other than the committed TEA PARTY. The TEA PARTY is growing much faster from the dominant Republicans, and certain politicians are discarding there old parties to join this third party. The Tea Party is secular in definition, non-partisan with open registration for all legal racial, including ethnic majorities and minorities. The Tea Parties core values of Fiscal Responsibility, Limited Government, Free Market and a Strong National Security. We have great substance in the leadership who are fighting against the old, tired “Business as Usual” political hard liners, who will keep our taxes spiraling and mortgaging our grand children’s futures.

    There will be no compromise with either party who keep the dollars flowing; printing more as our US debt are extended uncontrollably. All elected officials should be on notice that if you are anti-sovereignty and pro-illegal immigrant, they will be removed from office. That will be every Governor, Mayor, Police Chief and city manager. Every form of illegal immigration must be terminated, with businesses accountable and should be heavily fined, assets taken and long prison sentences. Obama’s team also needs to be held accountable, as with prior President George Bush and even Ronald Reagan’s leadership. Unions are also not be held to the same policies of enforcement, even though amongst their membership illegal workers are in their midst. The 1986 travesty sent both legal and illegal immigration, in the tens of millions and beyond into our country. The ultra-leftists are demoralized and the TEA PARTY has rattled their fetid cages, because the TEA PARTY has erased their wide open border ideas. Once the illegal immigrant war is won by building the real double fence and deploying 5000 troops along the border, we can cut-out all the special preferences such as Political Correctness “Press One for English.” If any minority wants to legally come here, they had better learn the national language, which is causing great hardships in our overcrowded schools.

    Extremely intelligent, the highest skilled workers don’t not need public welfare and never will and therefore should get special preferences to immigrate America is a place of opportunity, but the taxpayers are being overtaxed to pay for the foreign nationals who come here to steal the American dream, using child tax credits to profit. Criminals have compromised our tax code, and are thieving millions of dollars, as if the government stays ignorant to this fact. Our prisons are full of criminal aliens, drug dealers, murders, gang members and a complex assortment of nefarious activities. No more amnesties, immigration reform dream acts or anything else. The Illegal immigration issue should be important to every legitimate American, as it affects every-bodies pay check. There should be no exceptions to every county using Secure Communities police fingerprinting and detainment of individuals being processed, along with the new version of E-Verify. The new innovations to E-Verify will make it almost impossible, for any illegal worker to slip past the verification procedure. 287 (g) is still enforce around the country, to question any wrongdoer who is driving a vehicle. These tools must be made permanent and Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) can suck a lemon, as he tried to eradicate all these restriction programs. Other than California, Nevada has the highest population of foreign nationals in the country. America is a pressure valve for other corrupt governments for their unemployed and those living in abject poverty.

    Attention: Using veiled threats Acorn and its ilk, threatened the banking industry with boycotts, unless they loosened laws on lending. “Ninja loans” reluctantly given to low income, illegal aliens, with no credit, no assets, which crippled the housing market, were causing the financial crash in the USA. The Leftists will not advertise this explosive revelation; read about it on Google and the consequences. Utahan Americans better be concerned that Obama’s Liberal Progressive Czar Eric holder and the Rat Pack, are discussing giving a waiver to give Utah the right to use the Guest Worker program, that would be highly detrimental to low income, low skilled Citizens and Residents having to be in competition with illegal job seekers. Scrutinize the blue pages in your phone directory for your Senator and Representative to halt this travesty of our laws.

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  • Jazz Mann

    @Brittanicus and friends

    While You are being Smug and Arrogant about your’s and your Family’s “Good Fortune”; including a Good Education, a Good Job or Profession, a House, Investments, Health Care, most likely being Caucasian, your Folks probably also enjoyed most of these “Fortunate” circumstances so you were Born into a “Fortunate Life”.

    If you were not born into “Good Fortune” and you Alone got out of the Cycle of Poverty you should have a more Open Heart for others who are still in the Quick Sand of Poverty and “Ill Fortune”. What are you personally doing to Help them?

    America’s Dirty little Secret is we have the largest Prison Population of any World! Over 2,000,000 (two million and counting) 1 out of 142 Americans actually in Prison, 1 out of 32 Americans under correctional supervision.

    The Fortunate Americans should Remember while they are being Smug and Arrogant and want to Lock up truly desperate people of Ill Fortune that …..

    “There but for “Good Fortune” go You or I” May God open your Heart to the needy.

  • CWD Construction

    The increase in the number os prisoners is really alarming. It is not that the penal colonies can’t accommodate anymore, but this is a sign that crime rate is shooting up right? – CWD Construction