Grotesque over-crowding is commonplace in America’s gulag.
Credit: sf.newleaderscouncil.org

The Mount Everest revenue growth in the private-prison industry unequivocally represents everything that’s wrong with our pay-to-play government.

These prison firms, with the help of political ties forged through campaign donations and armies of lobbyists, can regularly snag windfalls in government contracts and unduly expand their businesses by incarcerating more people for a greater amount of time.

The Center for Responsive Politics has tracked a total of $2.3 million in political contributions by Corrections Corporation of America and almost $1.2 million by GEO Group. And that doesn’t count dark money. Unsurprisingly, both of these giants in the for-profit prison industry have a long history of hiring former government officials as lobbyists.

These lobbyists have successfully pushed legislators to “get tough on immigration” so a new influx of immigrants can occupy prison cells and help expand their profit-turning penal enterprise.

And they have carved out loopholes in […]