Mass incarceration isn’t only unjust—it’s big business.
We know it’s no accident that our prisons and jails have been filled to bursting over the past 40 years. America imprisons more peopleOpens a new window than any other nation on earth—a staggering 25%Opens a new window of all the world’s incarcerated people are behind bars in the US. This lock-’em-up culture has its roots in slavery and the racist “tough-on-crime” laws that started being passed back in the 1970sOpens a new window. But here we are almost 50 years later, with studies showing that mass incarceration doesn’t make us saferOpens a new window, with political leadersOpens a new window on both sides of the aisle agreeing that the criminal justice system needs to be transformed, and yet mass incarceration is still with us. What’s the reason for that?
We think there are billions and billions of them...
Follow the Money
Let’s be extra clear: Mass incarceration doesn’t work. We don’t need it. In fact, between 2005 and 2016, 35 statesOpens a new window cut crime and their incarceration rate simultaneously—so much for the argument that throwing people in jail and prison is the only way to keep our communities safe.
The Prison Policy InitiativeOpens a new window has studied mass incarceration from every angle for almost 20 years. They issued a report in 2017 concluding that our country spends about $182 billionOpens a new window on locking people up. That’s a lot of money to spend on something that doesn’t work.
But maybe it’s all just a matter of how you look at it. Because while the system causes great suffering for incarcerated people, their families, and their communities, there are others who think it’s working just fine. Private businesses that provide services (like food and healthcare, for example) to prisons and jails are making billions of dollars from mass incarceration—which sounds to us like a very strong incentive for them to make sure that millions of Americans keep getting locked up. It’s no surprise, then, that these businesses spend so much on lobbyingOpens a new window lawmakers to support policies that will keep prison populations high.
An overwhelming majority of AmericansOpens a new window of all political affiliations and backgrounds believe that we need to reform the criminal justice system. Politicians are coming around to the same idea. A wave of newly elected prosecutors and even many police chiefsOpens a new window also support reform. But the bottom line is that locking lots of people up is making lots of money for lots of businesses, so change will not be easy.
There’s a Price on Everything
Let’s take a look at a few of the industries that are benefiting from other people’s misery.
- Bail bonds
As America’s prison population has grown, so has the bail-bond industryOpens a new window—it now pulls in about $3 billionOpens a new window in profits every year. Most of the increase in incarceration has occurred in pre-trial detention—locking up legally innocent people as they await trial. And most of those people are in jail only because they can’t afford bail. Low-income defendants and their families often turn to a bail bondsman, who can pay the full bail amount once they receive a nonrefundable fee. The bail bond industry collects about $1.4 billion in nonrefundable fees every year, driving many families deeper into poverty. The industry, of course, works hard to thwart reformsOpens a new window.
- Telecommunications
Monopolies have long been considered a big no-no in business. But when it comes to prison phone companiesOpens a new window, monopoliesOpens a new window are standard operating procedure. While telecom companies love this arrangement, which has helped push the value of the entire industry to around $1.2 billion, it runs up costs on incarcerated people and their families. Charging more than $1 a minute is common, with some states seeing prices approach $25 for only a 15-minute call. At these sky-high prices, low-income families often have to decide between talking to their loved ones and paying their bills.
- Food and commissary suppliers
Supplying items like food, beverages, and hygiene products to prison or jail commissaries is a lucrative business, bringing in at least $1.6 billionOpens a new window across the country every year. There’s no such thing as shopping around for the best price when you’re incarcerated, so inmates have no choice but to buy what’s in stock at whatever price is listed (which could be much much higherOpens a new windowthan what you’d pay in stores). Prisoners earn so littleOpens a new window behind bars that families often have to send money to make up the difference. As for prison food, companies like AramarkOpens a new window make millions of dollars in profits supplying meals to about 600 prisons. The money keeps coming in even when they do a terrible jobOpens a new window.
- Healthcare
The jail and prison healthcare system is a giant messOpens a new window. Well, that’s true if you look at how effectively it tends to the health of people behind bars. From the perspective of profiteering, however, things seem to be going pretty well. Companies like CorizonOpens a new window, which is raking in $1.4 billion every year, are profiting from sick prisoners, despite having a dismal track record when it comes to making sure they get well again.
People Before Profits
We have a criminal justice system that’s criminally low on justice. And then we have multiple industries that have risen around it to take advantage of that system and turn profits on the backs of those caught up in it. The drive for exploiting inmates knows no limits. These days, you don’t even have to be locked up to be taken advantage of. Defendants are being charged for the use of electronic monitoring devicesOpens a new window. Believe it or not, 49 states chargeOpens a new window former inmates for the costs of their own incarceration.
We need to transform the system and we need to do it now. It’s time to put people ahead of profits. Join the movement for criminal justice reform today.
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