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OpEdNews Op Eds    H4'ed 5/7/15

Jails Are a Cash Cow for the Rich

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And this summer it's expected to crack down on the "commissions" system that's forcing prisoners to pay for their own imprisonment and helping state governments get rich of mass incarceration

Law enforcement, though, is having none of it.

The National Sheriffs' Association says that if the government cuts back on the kickbacks prisons get from prisoners' phone calls, they could just stop providing phone call services altogether.

This is a perfect example of everything that's wrong with privatization, especially the privatization of large public institutions. Like the powers to wage war, kill or draft, the power to imprison is among the most serious powers that our government holds.

The problem with privatization is that it creates a built-in incentive to abuse these powers, and prevents "We the People" from keeping tight control over the functions of our government.

Thanks to kickbacks from phone companies, state and local governments have every reason to keep their prison cells filled, no matter what the cost to the rest of society.

And when there's so much money to be made from exploiting prisoners, and that money then gets recycled back to the politicians as campaign contributions, it's that much harder to get our elected representatives to reform our screwed-up criminal legal system.

It's time to stop treating jails like cash cows. Call the FCC today and tell them you support their move to clamp down on the phone service-prison-industrial complex.

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Thom Hartmann is a Project Censored Award-winning New York Times best-selling author, and host of a nationally syndicated daily progressive talk program on the Air America Radio Network, live noon-3 PM ET. www.thomhartmann.com His most recent books are "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight," "Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights," "We The People," "What Would Jefferson Do?," "Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle (more...)
 

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