09-01-2010, 07:17 PM
Hi,
Actually, that is nonsense. The reality is that some privately run prisons do operate at a profit, but only because they are subsidized by the government. The government pays the corporation that owns the prison a certain amount (usually less than it would cost the government directly) to keep the prisoners. The corporation then uses those prisoners to generate some income. Overall, it hasn't been too successful.
Since the sentences are passed by judges representing the state and since the state ends up paying at least part of the costs of the incarceration, there is no financial incentive to give long sentences. Of course, any given judge could be bribed by any given corporation to give long sentences to people who are good candidates to work. I have never heard of that actually happening, but I haven't actually looked. Of course, that would be illegal and tangential to this discussion.
--Pete
(09-01-2010, 06:46 PM)eppie Wrote: The question is if it is true that long and many prison punishments are there to obtain a lot of cheap labour.
Actually, that is nonsense. The reality is that some privately run prisons do operate at a profit, but only because they are subsidized by the government. The government pays the corporation that owns the prison a certain amount (usually less than it would cost the government directly) to keep the prisoners. The corporation then uses those prisoners to generate some income. Overall, it hasn't been too successful.
Since the sentences are passed by judges representing the state and since the state ends up paying at least part of the costs of the incarceration, there is no financial incentive to give long sentences. Of course, any given judge could be bribed by any given corporation to give long sentences to people who are good candidates to work. I have never heard of that actually happening, but I haven't actually looked. Of course, that would be illegal and tangential to this discussion.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?