Soc 329 – Corr inc

”A $50 billion a year industry”

Does the financial aspect end up

driving the policy?

Soc 329 – Corr inc

Corporate Sponsored Crime Policies

The Basics - corporate sales

Prison construction Uniforms Food Medical supplies

Soc 329 – Corr inc

Surveillance equipment Doors and Locks Games, Commissary goods Specialty items - BOSS chair

Soc 329 – Corr inc

More subtle “opportunities”

Phone company ripoffs - long distance collect calls at “special

rates”

Bus companies and visiting day

Soc 329 – Corr inc

From selling to prisons -- to selling prisons --

Sponsoring laws to increase prison pops,and thus market share, revenues, profits

Link ALEC slide show (case study Wisconsin)

Soc 329 – Corr inc

Profit and secrecy (“under the radar”)

“Model” legislation

Link

(MoJo – compare Wisc and Minn)

Soc 329 – Corr inc

Prison Guards share

Goal - more and longer prison sentences for petty offenders (“get tough”)

Increasing imprisonment -- and thus income

and power of guard unions and guard wages

Soc 329 – Corr inc

They also serve as a “front” for

Victims groupsLegislatorsGovernorsPrison admin

Soc 329 – Corr inc

Behind the scenes - money and votes

Sponsor politicians who serve their interests

Guard unions and “Corrections Associations”

-- promote “educational materials”

Soc 329 – Corr inc

Police share

Asset forfeiture to fight crime (origin)Asset forfeiture as end in itself“Reverse stings” create both crime &

profits

LinkSlide show - how it works

Soc 329 – Corr inc

Corruption (not in article)

Large amounts of cash, no accountability

Many forfeitures simply “disappear”

Soc 329 – Corr inc

Summary:

$50 Billion industry warps public policy

The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison

Soc 329 – Corr inc

Gray area at bottom of page --

3 more good sections

(assigned - will be covered on exam!)

Soc 329 – Corr inc

Hard Time: Life After PrisonThree articles

Situation of ex-consSituation of familiesSituation of Communities

Soc 329 – Corr inc

Also browse:

Link Sidebar Gate Money

Essay Child of the Incarcerated

Soc 329 – Corr inc

America’s Drug War

Read Deborah Amos articleParts 1, 2, 3

Read Others’ Stories (right side of page)Read the stories

Soc 329 – Corr inc

Jailing the Mentally IllRead linked articles:

Not Sick Enough: The Insanity DefenseIn Jail or in TreatmentStatisticsJails: America’s Mental Hospitals

Soc 329 – Corr inc

HRW article

Some background on what happened to mental institutions and why mentally ill people (especially poor people) ended up on the streets and in jails and prisons.

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Exam 1 Review