Justice department says it will end private prisons

[Lou]

13 hours ago, Vegas Halo Fan said:

Hopefully states will begin to see the folly of entrusting incarceration to companies with a profit motive. Nevada had a very negative experience with privatization, and there isn't much of an appetite for it here.

how much does the state make from private prisons? 

[Lou]

5 hours ago, Rico said:

Private prison stocks tanked.

that consists of only two companies that are publicly traded. they'll go back up once they switch their focus to immigration detention. 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

14 hours ago, Lou said:

how much does the state make from private prisons? 

We no longer use them. However, they were not a source of profit for the state. The companies were paid under contract for providing the service. The issues generally came whenever the private companies received an inmate who had a lot of medical expenses. They wanted the inmate moved to another facility so that they could stay within budget. Another thing that happened was that a company would promise the moon in order to get the contract, and then almost immediately start complaining that they couldn't provide the service for the price that they promised. This is what eventually led the state to take over the women's facility, which was built and originally run by Corrections Corporation of America.

The only way that a private prison is a benefit to the state is in cost savings in salaries, benefits and construction. There is no direct cash benefit. One problem is that once you become dependent upon facilities that someone else owns and runs, they can then jack up the contract price, leaving you little choice.

[mrwicked]

the article says it only involves 13 prisons, housing 22,000 inmates.

doesn't really move the needle very much.

[Lou]

On August 18, 2016 at 9:07 PM, Lou said:

did you guys read the article? 

 

"While experts said the directive is significant, privately run federal prisons house only a fraction of the overall population of inmates. The vast majority of the incarcerated in America are housed in state prisons — rather than federal ones — and Yates’ memo does not apply to any of those, even the ones that are privately run. Nor does it apply to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Marshals Service detainees, who are technically in the federal system but not under the purview of the federal Bureau of Prisons.

The directive is instead limited to the 13 privately run facilities, housing a little more than 22,000 inmates, in the federal Bureau of Prisons system. "

 

 

 

 

On August 18, 2016 at 9:30 PM, Lou said:

22,000 inmates across the country? 

That's like solving our BP problem by waiving Al Albuquerque

@mrwicked hello 

[Lou]

@Vegas Halo Fan thanks for the response. I can definitely see how that would happen. however, the state has to make money through taxes, right? 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

20 minutes ago, Lou said:

@Vegas Halo Fan thanks for the response. I can definitely see how that would happen. however, the state has to make money through taxes, right? 

I understood the question to mean whether the state directly profits from private prisons, and the short answer is no. They pay for a service, just as under any other contract.

[Lou]

7 hours ago, Vegas Halo Fan said:

I understood the question to mean whether the state directly profits from private prisons, and the short answer is no. They pay for a service, just as under any other contract.

understood. you answered my initial question. when I read your response, I began wondering how much they make off things like taxes, etc., and whether there was a way to find out the amount

 

[nate]

7 hours ago, Lou said:

understood. you answered my initial question. when I read your response, I began wondering how much they make off things like taxes, etc., and whether there was a way to find out the amount

 

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/35564-how-private-prison-companies-use-big-tax-breaks-and-low-wages-to-maximize-profit

[ScruffytheJanitor]

7 hours ago, nate said:

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/35564-how-private-prison-companies-use-big-tax-breaks-and-low-wages-to-maximize-profit

I feel like the URL is a summary of the article. 

[arch stanton]

"uses big tax breaks and low wages to maximize profits" could be the end to any number of article titles

[Adam]

When 100% of your revenues are from tax dollars does it really matter how much you pay in taxes? 

[arch stanton]

It mattered to me when I was military

[Adam]

Seems silly to collect federal taxes from people paid with federal taxes. But whatever

[Lou]

18 hours ago, nate said:

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/35564-how-private-prison-companies-use-big-tax-breaks-and-low-wages-to-maximize-profit

I blame the IRS, not the prisons. 

[Rico]

On 8/21/2016 at 1:26 PM, mrwicked said:

the article says it only involves 13 prisons, housing 22,000 inmates.

doesn't really move the needle very much.

One can take this as a sign of things to come.  Some states will come to the same conclusion on private prisons.  

[nate]

4 hours ago, Lou said:

I blame the IRS, not the prisons. 

The IRS?  I blame the lawmakers that took all the money from the private prisons to pass favorable tax laws for them.

[Spirit]

Come on!  We all know who to blame.

 

 

 

 

[Lou]

39 minutes ago, nate said:

The IRS?  I blame the lawmakers that took all the money from the private prisons to pass favorable tax laws for them.

" REITs are supposed to only do business in real estate, but the IRS had recently allowed companies to break themselves up in order to meet the requirement, permitting the "real estate investment" portions to forego taxes. CCA and GEO Group, for example, have spun off sections of their companies that provide services such as health care, or have incorporated them as "subsidiaries" of the REIT.

 

[nate]

That is misleading.  The IRS only enforces the tax laws.  The IRS allowed it because they had to.

[Stradling]

I too would ban all IRS'

[Adam]

If you ban the IRS AJ will have to pay for his own pot

[arch stanton]

Privatizing prisons is a race to the bottom. Increasing quality and spending money doesn't improve profits but cutting corners and cheaping out on everything does. I'm not one who thinks prisons need to be resort quality but private companies should be required to maintain the same standards as the state and federal facilities and staff should be compensated to a standard for the areas where they're located.

[Tank]

Spoiler

 

we had private military groups operatinig in iraq (was it a group called Blackwater?). we have private prisons being operated here. there are persistent rumors of a secret gov't operating behind the scenes.

we're screwed.

[arch stanton]

Apparently the private prison providers aren't the only ones profiting from substandard conditions within

 

https://news.vice.com/article/ramen-is-the-new-gold-standard-in-prison-currency-study-says