INSOURCING II - The Wheel of Money and Sorrow...

Previously I discussed PIECP and how it is being used to increase prison labor while eliminating private sector jobs to reduce labor costs, overhead and increase profits. In this and the following segments I'll discuss the entire length of the money chain from arrest through bonding and incarceration to release. I'll provide the names of the corporations, organizations, and private businesses who make large profits off of arrests and incarceration and those who profit after release from reentry program funding and donations from you.

Today I want to explain the machination that make insourcing possible and who is involved, how they're involved and who funds these efforts. To understand the concept I need for you to form a mental image of a wagon wheel. This wheel is composed of: an outer iron rim, spokes that radiate and carry the weight and pressure from the rim equally to the outer hub that holds it all together. At the center of the hub is an inner hub that fits the entire wheel to an axle.

Without any one of those four necessary components, a wheel will not function: no spokes it collapses, no rim and the spokes will collapse without something to hold it together at the outer end. No outer hub, and the spokes dangle uselessly from the rim and no inner hub for an axle and the entire wheel has no purpose and could not function at all.

These mental images demonstrate that for a wheel to work properly there must be a way for several parts to work cohesively to perform a particular task, in this case roll while distributing weight evenly. This is also an apt description of how insourcing works.

For insourcing to work correctly for corporations, lawmakers and prison industries, everything must work together toward one goal: using inmate labor to produce products or provide services to consumers and other companies. When this is done properly, corporations and prison industries make lots of money and thousands of private sector jobs are eliminated.

In this case - back to the wheel - the "axle" represents the U.S. Government's Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program - 18USC 1761(c). It fits nicely into the inner hub which in our wheel represents the National Correctional Industries Association (NCIA). NCIA is the connector between government program and prison industries and compliance with that program's laws and mandatory requirements.

The solid space between inner and outer hub represents the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The Outer hub represents lobbyists, donors and affiliated sponsors who fund and support corporate and key legislative interests. The spokes radiating away from the hub are the U.S. Corporations and state lawmakers represented by the lobbyists and sponsors. The rim represents companies, associations and organizations that profit from arrests and incarceration (other than housing, care and labor) and serve as magnets that directs individuals to the wheel and transforms them into inmates. With all parts working in unison and smoothly the wheel rolls along the ground, accumulating inmates.

Attached to the axle (PIECP) is the authority and weight of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the Surface Transportation Board housed under the Department of Transportation that enforces the Interstate Commerce Act (this is important since PIECP statutes were created under the Interstate Transportation Act addressing interstate commerce involving prison made goods).

As the foregoing demonstration shows, the full weight of several United States Agencies and Departments - from the Secretary of Commerce through the DOJ, OJP to the BJA - bear authority for the PIECP program, that connects to our wheel. In reality this is the relationship between the highest level of our government, through a federal program to prisoners - state and federal. Interspersed within that link are private corporations, lobbyists, lawmakers, ALEC and the NCIA...all with a financial interest involving inmates (housing, banking, phone rates, medical services, food service and labor).

Tomorrow I will explain how our "wheel" operates in a most efficient manner to generate corporate profits from initial arrest through eventual release from prison. You won't have thought about the connections before and will be surprised - and angered to learn just who all profits and how.

Corporatocracy II

In my last post I provided two key words: fascism and Corporatocracy . I also provided definitions of both as found in the Urban Dictionary. I believe both words and the concepts they give us are important in today's social environment - not only in America, but also on the world stage.

As I stated before, I have had an opportunity to revisit the years of my youth and compare them to the years of late. As adults all of us have similar memories of growing up; games, friends, school, injuries, lost loves, good times and bad ones. All of these are "personal" memories important to us as individuals and define how we've grown and matured with age.

What we have less memories of are social issues that were important to us through our years of reaching our maturity. With age some of those issues have faded from memory and history itself. There are fewer and fewer of us born immediately after the last World War who grew up during the period known as the "Cold War" era. I grew up during that time and remember being provided with instructions of what to do in case of a "nuclear" attack - you know, under the desk, cover my head and wait for the all clear. Now I realize just how damn stupid and useless those instructions were. Nobody would live through such an event. It was all BS put out by our government to make us believe our safety was important to "them".

There were other issues and events that transpired during that terrible era that have somehow been forgotten by us - left by the wayside as technology and our "advanced" civilization evolved - and others that have stayed with us, providing continued controversy and discussion into this new millennium; abortion, homosexuality, gun rights, immigration and death penalty and human rights to name a few.

While we continue to grapple with these social issues that haunt us as Americans, the rest of the world has not been burdened with the foregoing topics. Nations "conquered" by the US and our allies in WWII have made great strides in technology, manufacturing and education, rising above us in all those categories.

Manufacturing in the US exploded during and immediately following WWII. Jobs were available for everyone and as a country we were envied by the rest of the world. Our technical schooling, public education and insistence upon human rights and the rights of our population were pointed to as the way to the future. This was all true and continued into the 1980's. Then something happened that changed the entire course of events.

Corporate influence is what happened. Corporations that made huge sums of money over the 30 year period following the end of WWII, used their profits to begin to dabble in politics. They learned that if they were willing to contribute sums to the campaigns of lawmakers, those they backed who won would be in a position to use their political positions to influence legislation sympathetic to their corporate backer's needs.

Over the past quarter century that's exactly what has transpired. Corporations realized minor then huge, tax breaks through lobbying. They have been able to change such laws as truth in lending and truth in advertising. Where prior to 1985 there were usury laws to protect all of us from predatory lending and excessive interest rates, they legislated for changes in the law that now allow financial and lending companies to impose interest rates of as much as 200% on short term payday loans and vehicle title loans. It used to be if you saw an ad on TV or heard one on the radio, the information provided to you was honest, correct and forbidden to be misleading. That has gone the way of our manufacturing capabilities.

Insurance has always been an integral and necessary part of our society. Without it we fear we'll be bankrupted due to health or medical treatment needs. Without auto insurance we can be sued and lose everything...if our homes are destroyed by fire, hurricane, flood or tornado we'd be homeless and without the funds necessary to rebuild, without insurance. So we've all maintained insurance for peace of mind and to comply with government mandates that force us to have such insurance policies for home, auto and medical. Government mandated? Yep. In most states if you own a vehicle you must have minimum coverages. If your car is financed those coverages increase to protect the lender. If your home is financed, then you are required to maintain a certain amount of insurance to, once again protect the lender. In both of these cases the government mandate protects the corporation, bank or finance company that lent you the money. It does not mandate that you be protected, only the corporate intersts involved.

Now we are bombarded with corporate advertising every few minutes while watching TV or listening to the radio. We cannot believe most of what is said by the actors or announcers and every ad has "fine print" or disclaimers in those ads that warn or inform us that what we've just been told are not necessarily true. Have any of you seen the ad for AARP's Medicare Supplement Insurance on TV? United Healthcare Insurance Company runs the ads and provides us with a warm fuzzy feeling that the AARP endorses this insurance program. AARP is splashed all over the screen throughout the commercial. Take the time to read the print at the bottom of the screen that informs: "AARP does not recommend health related products, services insurance or programs. You are strongly encouraged to evaluate your needs".

Now it's not good enough for pharmaceutical manufacturers to advertise their products to doctors through conventions and office visits by reps, they also have managed to lobby for legalizing their advertising of products directly to the consumer - you and I - through the mass media. Again these ads promise us immediate and continued relief from ailments and conditions if we use their medications. Each one of these ads are accompanied by disclaimers that you should discuss the product with your doctor, and of course there are always critical and life threatening side effects caused by most of these drugs and by law they have to advise us of that. I don't know about you, but I leave all that medication crap up to my doctors. I pay little attention to those ads, but others do and inundate their physicians with requests to change their medication due to the advertising they've seen on TV.

Increased incarceration is another example of corporate interests. Many companies now make huge profits from housing, providing medical "care" or treatment, feeding or clothing inmates. They also profit from selling commissary goods to inmates and their visitors Another source of vast income is from prison labor, using inmates to manufacture some of the very products you use in your homes and businesses. Think that's not true? Do you have a Computer? Do you have a Microsoft operating system - Windows or Vista? Yep, you have products that have been through the hands of state or federal prison inmates.

These are but a few of the changes in laws benefiting corporations and there are many more. I'll discuss those in my next post and go into greater detail on how corporations have grown to the point they now influence our everyday lives through manipulation of laws and our governments.

Corporations, Prisons, Politics and Our Interests

Oh, What a Wicked Web We’ve Woven

By Bob Sloan

As with any research on a particular issue or project, there comes a point where it becomes obvious that peripheral forces are responsible for – or impact upon – the singular subject under review. Such is the position I find myself in today on the various prison and prison industry issues I’ve dedicated many years to researching.

I recently wrote about the involvement of US corporations; PAC’s and state Lawmakers in the current situation involving immigration legislation in Arizona and within nationwide prison industry operations for profit. Both topics required me to look closer at the reason such manipulations of law occur – I was forced to look beyond the immediate and obvious reasons; profitability and acquisition of power, to determine why both are so necessary.

At some point it dawned on me that as both a society and species certain undeniable facts remain unaltered: greed, domination and a desire to “compete” at all levels throughout our lives are chief among those facts. We have sports with teams that represent our cities, state or country that compete against others. We compete industrially against other countries and we compete for public office.

As we enter the 21st Century some things have not changed over the past 2000 plus years. We still have the desire to be the dominate personae in everything we do on a personal as well as social and governmental levels. Each of us strives to have more than our neighbors in the way of wealth, property and influence. To accomplish these personal goals we are continuously competing against our neighbors, businesses and others we perceive as a “threat” to our personal or societal goals.

Our individual actions as described in the previous paragraph have been applied to all aspects of our lives; politics, government, business, family and internationally as we relate with and to other nations and societies that share our planet. If we are greedy, dominate and competitive in our personal lives and actions and become the owner of a corporation, we carry those characteristics into our business operations and relationships. The same is true of those of us who choose to become representatives of our society in local, state and federal governments.

The continuous and unrelenting “need” to always be the “winner” in any situation leads us to be nothing more than selfish in our interactions with other members of our society or business competitors. The actual need to come out on top goes back to our days as cave dwellers, hunters and gatherers. In those early periods of life as a society, it was necessary to be the first to find food, shelter, companionship and procreate. It was just as necessary to our ancestors to fight to protect their position within their meager societies, clans or groups. Thus the need for and creation of tools of war and social conflicts.

Over the centuries those basic needs described above have become less and less necessary, yet once instilled within our psyche they have remained and influence everything we do – personally and as a collective society and ultimately a nation. While industry, manufacturing and technological advances have brought us into one new and wonderful era after another, the basic tenets of pursuing wealth and influence have remained with us and are just as strong now as it was in our ancestor’s time. Thus while technical skills and technology have changed and evolved, our human character, personality and desires have not kept pace by evolving comparatively.

In an age where space travel, atomic research, cell phone technology, splitting the atom and other scientific marvels astound and amaze us, we are still a society that has failed to eliminate war, cure cancer, eliminate hunger and most importantly, have failed to use our acquired knowledge and technology to advance both our society and species in a manner beneficial to all. The desires to make our life, our business, our government or our religion dominate and controlling over all others is still there and affects everything we as humans do. To this end we have carried the personal selfishness that was necessary in the early days of human life with us into modern society. We want to “belong” to the strongest group, Political Party or Organization. We desire more and more wealth to separate us from our next door neighbors and collectively we want our nation to stand out from other nations for the same reasons.

Today we in the United States perceive that we are the dominate country in the world. We believe our democratic form of government is the best and our lifestyles and standard of living is beyond compare. And if other nations, peoples, religions or societies are unwilling to accept our beliefs as fact, we are willing to wage war upon those unbelievers. So with this in mind, we must question just how far we have actually evolved as a species or a society since we left our caves in millenniums past? After thousands of years we should be well beyond such petty desires and individual characteristics.

Here in the year 2010 we should be able to live and work together with all other peoples, cultures and societies inhabiting our planet for the betterment of all of us. Instead the technological advances and discoveries we’ve made are used as a means of control and power over our fellow man. This understanding brings us to the issues of prisons and prison industry that exploits both humans and competing private sector businesses. Through manipulation of our federal and state laws, corporations involved in prison industries exploit prisoners through using their labor to make the products we buy and use. This allows higher profits through depressed inmate wages far below those previously paid to private sector workers for the same labor. They’ve managed to do this through a cooperative effort between their goals and our state and federal lawmakers who perform the actual enactment of laws that benefit their corporate partners – and no one else. Here is the current, evolved form of greed, dominance and competition in the new millennium.

American Corporations could be working to improve the lives and living conditions of each one of us as they generate modest profits from those acts. They should have a loyalty to those within our society who helped make them what they are today, to the government that made it possible for them to exist and prosper. But they have shown us time and again that they have absolutely no loyalty to us as individuals or a society and unless our state and federal governments are willing to provide them with more and more tax breaks and other incentives, they have no loyalty to them either.

Again the ancient character of greed is the controlling interest that determines the path and activities of these corporations. They are without concern for American workers, their families or needs – only upon generating the most money and wealth and political influence to maintain their superior hierarchy. To this end they take their operations offshore or behind prison fences, denying us both manufacturing abilities and employment. They realize that to keep us employed and their operations here in the US, their profit margins would be much less than it is by moving out of the country, thus they follow the mighty dollar, taking their “ball” somewhere else to play where they can call the shots and profit the most. As I said, they have no loyalty to the country and people who made them what they are today. These corporations acting in this manner have no concern that their actions weaken us as a nation due to the visible and actual loss of industry here in the US and the massing of finances in the hands of fewer and fewer among us.

We could all be working cohesively to make our lives, work and personal relations with others better. Our lawmakers could be working diligently to enact legislation and laws that benefit our entire society, protect our environment, and provide necessary and comprehensive healthcare and other important social needs. Instead, reverting to those same individual goals of greed, dominance and competition, our lawmakers have succumbed to accepting financial “contributions” from the powerful US Corporations – explained as campaign contributions – to do their bidding. With the assistance of corporate contributions, our lawmakers willingly do their best to divert necessary funding for important social programs; education, mental health, drug and dependency efforts, to the goals and purposes of their corporate partners. They have absolutely no shame in doing this, as their actions fulfill their basic desires of personal greed, domination and the ability to win any competition from challenging opponents in an election. Representing corporate interests guarantees them a war chest for the next and following elections. Their constituents cannot match either donations or guarantee continued loyalty, whereas corporate interests promise and deliver both.

We as a society are thus placed in a situation where neither corporate interests nor lawmakers are working on our behalf or to better our world. The current stalemate situation in our Congress and House of Representatives clearly demonstrates the power struggle between society, corporate interests and Legislators. Republicans say no to every proposed bill that benefits us collectively or individually; healthcare, jobs, extending unemployment benefits, stimulus, infrastructure improvements, funding for more teachers and other important social matters. This party managed to drive us to the brink of bankruptcy – with the assistance of the actions of their corporate partners – over the past 8-10 years. Our economy crashed and they funded the Wall Street bailout with legislation that allowed for no actual oversight over the use of our money and they fight any effort to regulate these corporations in the wake of the worst financial melt-down since the “great depression” of the last century. They were responsible for starting two wars – one preemptive – that have cost us trillions of dollars. Those funds were not theirs to spend, but ours, given to the government in the form of taxes with the belief that the government and legislators would not squander our money on useless or needless activities. Instead of paying for education and increased teacher salaries, providing health coverage for all of us or reducing prison population, they spent our money on wars. Knowing public programs were suffering without financial support, they reduced taxes paid by the upper classes in the US, forcing the middle class to pick up the slack.

The Democratic Party is similarly situated. With an eye on being competitive in the upcoming election in 2010 and the more important one in 2012, they have ignored our collective voice to take us away from the path chosen by the previous administration. Instead, they concentrate on reelection efforts rather than important social needs and demands. They work daily on “getting along with the Republicans” by trying to invite them to the table to discuss issues and take part in bettering our country, environment and helping society by implementing social programs that benefit the masses. They have the numbers to actually advance any Party legislation beneficial to us, but instead fight among themselves and with the Republicans over petty issues instead of pulling together for the benefit of our country.

Now we have a situation where once a party assumes the mantel of the Presidency through election, the standard practice is to go immediately to work to assure they can prevail in the next election cycle instead of going to work representing the interests of society and those who elected them.

The result is we are left with very little voice or influence whatsoever. What voice we do have, is drowned out by the continuing party arguments and maneuvering to acquire and keep the upper hand, which in the US is influence and control of all things. Neither of our long standing political Parties are willing to work together on issues important to us as a society and as human beings. They could work together to advance our civilization but are too busy working against one another. Regardless of the issue or actual need for social improvements, each party adopts a competitive position – one for and the other against – on every issue or legislative bill regardless of whether it is necessary or a good idea.

Behind all of this political bickering are the corporations that are funneling money into the coffers of whomever they perceive as having their best interests in mind. While these manipulations and arguments continue, more and more of us are left with no job, no real healthcare, and no income with which to feed, clothe or raise our children. If we remove special interests and funding of campaigns by corporate interests, what is left for our elected officials to do? Our business is what they’re left with, but that doesn’t result in immediate financial reward or gratification. It’s hard to believe we live in the year 2010, where men have walked on the moon and are gearing up for a trip to Mars as we watch our political infrastructure self destruct in this way. Scandal after scandal and corruption abound within our federal government at the highest levels. Acts and deeds committed by those chosen as representatives by their districts and communities. This has become “acceptable” and expected behavior of late.

The end result of all of the foregoing is that corporations have outgrown us. Several decades ago they were dependent upon us for labor, consumer consumption of their products and by both, continued corporate growth. Corporations were never intended to be considered “individuals”. They are not human nor people, yet they have managed to adopt that personae through cooperative efforts of lawmakers and our US Supreme Court.

With the loss of the 2008 elections, the Republican’s were in a position of lost power and influence. They saw that generating contributions and raising funds to be “competitive” in the future were going to be difficult with a base that was dwindling. They were going to have to come up with a solution to the loss of party and overall community financial support. The answer was to turn to those wealthy corporations who had already benefited from laws and tax breaks enacted by Republicans, and empower their corporate partners with the ability to open their bank accounts to support the party. With the appointments made under the previous President, our Supreme Court willingly complied with the desires of both the Republican Party and their corporate sponsors, by finding it “legal” for corporations to fund any political activities in any election as they see fit – with no limitation on amounts spent or regard to party contributed to. This has led us further down the path of totally eliminating our voice in choosing our own political representatives by allowing corporations to “purchase” their choice of who should represent us.

Thus society’s needs, desires and choices have become passé. This method of politics will quickly widen the gap between the “Haves” and “Have Not’s” and contribute greatly to the elimination of the middle class in America. In response Libertarian, Independent and Tea Partiers groups have found support from within the masses, where previously no such support was forthcoming to any real degree. Society has determined that neither Democrat nor Republican are willing to listen to their needs on important issues and see the constant bickering for what it is – a power struggle for dominance. We hope by diverting our votes away from that already in power, we will be able to once again make choices and decisions beneficial to us as a society, rather than continue on a path that reserves such benefits for corporate interests.

Whether we realize it or not, our society and country is functioning as nothing more than a dictatorship. Not under an individual, a cabal or similar entity. No, we are now living under a Corporate Dictatorship. There are at least 300 huge US Corporations that now use their money, influence and position to dictate the path of our country. They purchase the cooperation of elected and appointed government officials who assist them in enacting laws to their benefit. They dictate who can and can’t work by manipulating where and by whom industry and manufacturing will be accomplished. If we as employees require higher wages to live and survive, they refuse and simply close up operation and take it where they can use labor that is cheaper. It does not matter to them that they are destroying our country and society or not. The goal is wealth, domination and eliminating any competition for the markets the control. To this end they must – and do – control government oversight and laws favorable to them.

Our Corporations have changed our society completely in the past three decades or so. They did this by making new gizmos and gadgets to awe us and make us want to buy them. To increase sales and profits, they used their influence to eliminate such things as “Truth in Advertising”, “Truth in Lending” and eliminating regulations and safeguards such as usury laws, government imposed restrictions on lending and mortgage financing so we could borrow more and more money to buy more and more of their products. They moved manufacturing to countries where meager wages were paid to their workers. The money made from those transitions to offshore operations and US sales were then used to increase their influence upon us, and we never saw it coming. We always presumed they had our best interests in mind – like our government. This has continued until it is nearly too late.

As Americans we are now at a crossroads. This is our country. It is not owned by our government, or by the corporations that now control nearly every aspect of that government. It is our time to make our voices heard above the greedy and bullying clamoring heard in the US Congress and House of Representatives and comparable state legislatures. If we continue along the path we are on, only the top few percent among us will have wealth, security, influence and the ability to determine the direction of our nation. Once that occurs we will truly become a majority ruled by a minority. One party now represents the interests of those few mentioned above and are doing everything they can to protect those interests, because that’s what they’re being paid to do.

It is time for all of us to come together, regardless of Party affiliations, religious beliefs, race or ethnicity to stand up and have our voices heard in unison. Whether we are Christian, Muslim, Protestant, Buddhist or some other faith – or atheist - we will become “one” as a suppressed and controlled society where those beliefs will no longer matter if we do not act. The same goes for political beliefs, whether Democrat, Republican, Independent or Libertarian, that will no longer matter, we will all be subjected to corporate controlled rule.

Revolution is not what is needed; it is a clear and distinct voice at the polls in the upcoming 2010 election cycle – and beyond. Our elected officials have lost their way and forgotten who they represent once elected. They go to Washington and immediately fall under the sway of those who are already there, having been entrenched there for decades and the special interest groups and organizations prevalent there. They quickly forget why they were elected, their campaign promises and resolutions to act on our behalf as they accept the wining and dining as a just reward for forgetting their real purpose for being there.

We need to step up and simply say no to the status quo by refusing to reelect those who have had an opportunity to serve us and have served corporate interests instead. One term will inform whether those elected work for their community or for corporate interests. If they make the wrong choices, replace them in the next election. Political office was never intended to be a lifetime position or career opportunity, though that is precisely what it has turned into. Political offices were not intended to function as a for-profit position or a “family run business”, but that is what they have become.

Let us announce we demand a return to politicians representing our interests and not the special interests of those lobbyists and corporations flooding DC. We do not have the wealth and finances to pay lobbyists to represent our interests and should not have to. But what we do have is our vote. All that is needed is to turn out and “turn them out”. We made a great effort in 2008 and made our voices heard for “Change”. Let’s do it again and again, until Lawmakers really and truly listen. We didn’t send our sitting lawmakers to Washington to argue amongst each other and do no business on our behalf – we sent them there to represent our interests, as humans and a community. Congress and the House are not there to accuse, cajole and make unreasonable demands upon their opposition members or to investigate members of the opposition party simply because they hold a majority in the House. They’re there to conduct business on our behalf.

Unless and until we act, more and more of us are going to lose jobs and place our family’s future in the hands of those only interested in their futures. More and more are going to wind up in jails and prisons, fodder for the politician’s corporate partners. How many of the two million plus citizens now behind bars ever thought they’d end up in prison during their lifetimes? How many more of our neighbors, sons, daughters, fathers and mothers must follow that path into isolation and servitude for the corporate interests before we are willing to stand up and say enough is enough? Give us back our jobs, our dignity and our voice.

If each of us continues to refuse to speak out against the continued Political and Corporate exploitations visited upon our neighbors, when they come for you and I, who will be left to object?

By Bob Sloan
Prison Industries Consultant
www.piecp-violations.com

The True Costs of Incarceration

Taxpayer Funding

Building Prisons -

In todays USA billions of tax dollars are being spent building more and more state prison facilities, federal detention centers and prison work camps. We as a society fund the development and construction of these facilities because we're told by "experts" in the field of corrections and lawmakers that this is necessary to protect us from the rising crime rates across the country. The fact that this is untrue, with all categories of crime diminishing over the past decade and a half, does not deter proponents from denying this fact and pushing for more housing for offenders.

Some prison facilities are being built by private corporations such as Corrections Corporation of America and Geo Group - formerly Wackenhut - Cornell Corrections and MTC. In their cases they entice communities to fund building of their prisons through bonds and other investment opportunities, promising great returns. Some of these "private" facilities are now standing vacant, with skeleton crews maintaining the prisons until inmates can be found to house there.

In each case - federal, state or private - prisons are continuously being built at huge expense to society. We either pay for it through tax allocations or risk our earnings through the purchase of bonds in hopes of earning a return on our investments in housing of criminals.

This is not the entire expense associated with prisons and prison industry borne by taxpayers. No this is simply the beginning of the process that eventually will more than triple the costs to society. In addition to the building there is the operational expenses with staffing each facility, feeding inmates, transporting inmates from prison to prison, providing medical and health care to those inmates, mental health programs, and of course, prison industry operations. This latter issue of prison industries is one that most prison operators would argue costs the taxpayers nothing to operate, but that is not factual, as I'll demonstrate later on.

Re-Entry Programs -

Just as taxpayers are funding the construction and operation of more prisons, they are also funding re-entry programs - whether they know it or not. The US Department of Justice for fiscal year 2010 is allocating $114 million tax dollars for prisoner reentry program grants. In addition the Recovery Act has set aside $4 billion dollars for the states. Much of this huge lump sum of tax dollars is earmarked for corrections, crime and associated fields. This kind of tax allocations for reentry programs has occurred over and over again for years. Billions spent on reentry, yet our recidivism rates continue to climb and prison populations grow annually. These dollars are your dollars. Earned by you and provided to the government by way of taxes. As a tax payer I don't believe I'm getting my money's worth.

Prison Industries -

"We're self-sufficient and receive no funding of tax dollars to sustain our operations," is a favorite claim made by prison industry administrators. It sounds too good to be true...and as is often the case, it is not factual. While prison industries operate in such a manner that the sale of prisoner made products covers their overhead and allows a profit, they are not operating without tax dollar support. There are minor costs where tax dollars are used, such as when a prison industry operation has need for an experienced welder. If/when an inmate with the experience and skills sought by the prison industry is found at another institution or facility, that inmate or inmates are transferred to the facility where they are needed. This secure and thus expensive transportation is a cost that is paid for with tax dollars. In Florida alone, dozens of these facility to facility transfers are accomplished yearly.

A larger consumption of tax dollars is simply the cost of housing, medical care, feeding and custody costs of those inmates working within the prison industries. Sure, they work 5 to 8 hours per day, 5 days a week for the industry but you bear the cost of feeding those inmates while on the job. In some industries food is prepared and brought to the inmate work force where they're working. This requires escort by prison staff - at a cost not related to or paid for by the industry. Your tax dollars pay the wages of custodial staff who are assigned to maintain security within the prison factories and for staff to count the number of inmates at the prescribed times. Inmate counts taken at shift change are problematic and can be costly due to the prison industry operation. If a mis-count at the factory results in one or more recounts, the on-duty shift officers must remain at their posts until the count is finally cleared and the on-coming shift assumes their assigned duties. The recounts result in overtime being paid to those officers who were required to remain after shift end. This expenditure of overtime is not paid for by the prison industry, it's paid for by you, the taxpayer.

Another fictional claim by prison administrators is that participation in industry training operations under federal PIECP results in wage deductions from inmate pay to offset the cost of incarceration borne by the taxpayers. This is reported time and again as justification for continuing prison industry operations as a claim of savings to the state and taxpayers. An example of just how inaccurate this claim is you only have to look to Florida where PRIDE proudly informs the public that 40% of all money earned by the inmate is taken out of their checks and given to the FDOC to offset the cost of incarceration. This "room and board" deduction is authorized under PIECP through 18 USC 1761(c). The intent of the deduction is to do what PRIDE and other industries claim they're doing - helping to pay the costs associated with imprisonment. This is untrue in Florida, and possibly other state prison industry operations. The real truth to this issue is that in Florida the money authorized to be deducted from inmate wages is not paid into the hands of the FDOC to offset operations costs. No, it is put into a Prison Industry Trust Fund established by Fl. Statute 946.522 Prison Industries Trust Fund.— Once received into the fund the deductions from inmate wages are then taken back out by PRIDE and used by the corporation to offset their PIECP operating expenses. So none of the funds taken out of inmate earnings are or have been used to reimburse taxpayer funding for incarceration costs. Instead it is being used to offset industry expenses and this translates into profits to PRIDE. To date in Florida this diversion of funds earmarked for offsetting prison operation costs exceeds $3.5 million dollars and counting. This manipulation results in the necessity of appropriations of tax dollars to offset this loss to the FDOC.

Profits made by the prison industries under PIECP and normal product sales does not go into the state general revenue fund. In most cases that money is kept by the prison industry and used for R&D, equipment upgrading, staff salaries and other costs associated with prison industry. They claim to be self-sufficient, not that they share profits with taxpayers.

Double Dipping -

This is a procedure I believe to be the most onerous of them all. Corrections staff who complete enough time on the job to qualify for retirement and a state pension from the DOC are allowed to retire with huge benefits provided by the taxpayers. Staff with an average annual salary of $70,000.00 - due to tenure, length of service and rank acquisition - can retire with an annual pension of more than 60% of their gross salary, or approximately $42,000.00 per year. In many cases this is not the end of their employment with the DOC. After a required amount of time "retired" (usually as little as 3 to 6 moths) these individuals are rehired by the DOC and go back to work at the same pay grade and rank that they held upon retirement. This allows these double dippers to not only receive their monthly pension payments, but full salary of around $70,000.00 in addition. The same job where they earned $70K a year now pays them over $110K. Same job, same staff member, but taxpayers now pay him/her an extra $42K a year.

With the starting wage for a COI now hovering around $36,000 per year, it is easy to understand the impact on taxpayers for allowance of this kind of personnel manipulation.

Proponents of this procedure claim that the experience and knowledge held by those who take advantage of this double dip system is needed for the security and smooth operation of the prison facility. This forces us to question whether the training provided to staff during their tenure is working to our advantage or not. I mean, if this kind of thing is necessary how are other staff members with less knowledge and training ever going to receive promotions to take the place of those who retire? They can and await their turn in the barrel to follow suit, retire and be rehired to earn more money like their predecessors did.

This procedure does nothing more than require an annual increase in funding of tax dollars to keep the status quo of those long time DOC employees and "reward" them by their receiving pensions and a substantial annual salary, for no more work then they were performing prior to retirement. An additional fact that can't be denied, is that DOC staff who retire are in worse physical condition than the younger staff members. They are mostly out of shape and of an age that quick responses and reactions to situations reduces their ability to respond to an emergency situation in a timely and efficient manner. Not only are they being overpaid, but they're efficiency is not up to the standards required for working inside a prison facility.

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The national drop in crime rates are offset by state and federal laws that now require inmates to serve as much as 85% of their sentences, put in place mandatory minimum sentences for drug and gun possession and use, truth in sentencing and similar laws that have been enacted over the past two or three decades. Each of these laws were designed with one purpose in mind - create the need for more prisons, more staffing and a way to keep beds full for the longest possible time. I know, you want to respond with: "but we were told it was necessary to protect us from escalating criminal acts". Not so. The Bureau of Justice Statistics is a pretty well informed agency that keeps tracks of crime and crime rates, and they disagree with the claims of increasing crime and crime rates. It is just not so.

Why are we being misled and to what purpose? Simply put it is for profits to private US Corporations. I mean, after all the state has no interest or desire to house more and more offenders and provide them with longer sentences, in the face of diminishing crime rates. Their purpose is to rehabilitate offenders and release them back into their communities as productive citizens. Warehousing offenders without any attempt at rehabilitation is simply too damn costly and disrupts state budgeting - and serves no real social or community purpose. No, this is being done by corporations and their lobbyists through conduits into state Legislatures through outfits such as ALEC that I've mentioned previously.

To them warehousing of prisoners is a money making enterprise and they just can't get enough of them. With each new inmate entering the prison gate of privately owned or operated facilities,these corporations hear the melodious cha-ching of money flowing into their left pockets. Using inmates in their prison industry operations causes another cha-ching of money flowing into their right pockets.

Government subsidies for incarceration are paid through tax dollars, period. The states pay these corporate interests, but it is with the money taken out of your paychecks in the form of taxes. Federal detainees are another "product" for these private prison corporations. A louder cha-ching is heard with each one brought to a detention facility. Ahhhh...enter SB 1070 in Arizona where CCA has been losing money due to a drop in immigration apprehensions. Something was needed to boost apprehensions and fill the beds - wallah a new state Immigration Law!

All of us read the paper, listen to the news or watch it on TV. We know that with the economy in the situation it's been in for the past 18 months, money is tight from coast to coast and every facet of business and social programming are feeling the squeeze. Everything except the prison industrial complex, which is booming and expanding like never before, as we continue to flood their facilities with more and more of our neighbors, friends and family members.

Jobs are disappearing like never before. Along with their homes, cars and material possessions are are also disappearing at an alarming rate. In some cases this results in law abiding citizens turning to some form of illegal activity - drug dealing, stealing, fraud and other criminal acts - to put food on the table for their families. Sure, they all tried unemployment and other social programs to make ends meet and provide for their families, but the jobs just haven't materialized and their benefits have run out. Kids have to eat, there has to be money for heating and transportation, schooling and medical care. So it's no surprise that some have found it necessary to break the law to simply survive.

Once that step is taken those who engineered or helped our economy to collapse - and profit from the outcome - smile serenly as they await the arrival of each new "inmate" and the accompanying cha-ching, cha-ching's.

Now we as tax payers are footing the damn bill for apprehension, prosecution and incarceration of our community law breakers. Some percentage of those funds should be going toward reducing the prison inmate populations, rehabilitation and other programs to alleviate the burden placed upon us for this continuing revolving door policy. But those funds are going right along with the rest of our tax money into the left and right pockets of the profiteers.

Think for a moment about prison and think back to the articles and shows highlighting what impact our economy has had on prison facilities. As usual, the current situation demanded cuts in Corrections appropriations (your tax dollars). First to go were basic and secondary education programs funded with tax dollars to educate prisoners while in prison to provide an opportunity for them to become better able to be employed upon release. Second to go were the substance abuse and similar programs funded by tax dollars. Next went vocational and other training programs funded with tax dollars (they left prison industry operations in place though). Next several states took the unprededented step of deciding the inmates received too many calories in their diets, so 2800 to 3200 per diem diets were cut back to 1800 to 2200 calories per day (hell we pay for their food, we ought to be able to determine what they get and how much of it, right)? Now the daily caloric intake consists mainly of items such as meat substitutes consisting of soy and soy byproducts, all but eliminating most meats and natural proteins.

With all the foregoing programs and benefits eliminated and diets cut back you'd think us tax payers would be saving a bundle of money, right? Uh, no. You see we allowed widespread privatization of all things "prison" over the past thirty years - mostly during the era of Bush as Governor of Texas, and Jeb Bush in Florida, then George W. as President. Everything that could possibly be turned over to private corporations were gladly given to them with the blessings of our state governments and without any real interst on our parts. This privatization means prison healthcare is now private and provided by companies like Prison Health Services. Food is "catered" by DOC contracts with the likes of Aramark and Trinity Food Service. Profits from the sale of hygiene and food items no longer go into the general revenue funds, instead they are received by companies like Keefe Commissary Network where prison canteen operations were privatized and sold. Inmate housing has become more and more dependent upon private prison corporations, so if there are any savings to be had from reducing programs - or diets - to the inmates, it goes to those private corporations. Something as simple and everyday as phone calls from prison have also been privatized, with phone services provided at exorbitant rates by AT&T, MCI and comparable private corporations. In Florida in 2005 the DOC received 53% $18 million dollars) of all profit made under their phone contract with MCI.That figure represents the increased costs borne by family and friends of prisoners. They were forced to pay those rates or lose contact with fathers, sons, brothers, sisters and mothers.

So no, the cost of incarceration doesn't decline, in fact it is increasing even while crime rates continue to decline. Profits are set and margins must be maintained. If these corporations are to make profits and pay ever-increasing dividends to their investors, the money has to come from somewhere...and the taxpayer's pockets fill the bill nicely.

What does all this mean? It means we're not getting our money's worth. Funding for those programs research has shown us works to reduce recidivism - education, training and substance abuse - have been diverted to paying the corporations for merely housing and feeding inmate populations. Rehabilitation is no more. You commit a crime, you go to jail, then prison and work for a corporation, get released without any money, training or education and then reoffend and go back to prison and your old job. This cycle repeats over and over tens of thousands of times per month across our country. Double dippers, corporations and their investors and the lawmakers in the pockets of both reap the benefits.

I suggest it's time that we really evaluate the cost of prison and demand that the tax dollars that we provide are used for something other than fattening up semi-retired corrections officials and corporations and campaign contributions to lawmakers. Money needs to be used to prevent crime, reduce recidivism and turn the lives of offenders around and provide them with an opportunity to become a supporter within their communities instead of a pariah upon them. Let's face it, the system is broken and does not work as it is now operated. The millions and millions of tax dollars now being used for all forms of incarceration are dollars diverted from education and healthcare programs in every state. The amount of funding for prisons exceeds the expenditures for education and healthcare in almost every state.

To continue to defund education in order to pay for the housing of more than two million of our citizens - with no hope of that ever turning around - is simply non-productive and a waste of our money and resources. Similarly we yell and scream about healthcare and how we're supposed to pay for it, while we continue to use that money to warehouse criminals.

Unless and until we make a conscious decision to attack crime and recidivism head on by educating those offenders without an education and providing programs to reduce dependence upon drugs and alcohol - in place of incarceration - and really address the mental health issues suffered by millions (instead of simply sending them to prison to get them off the streets) we will continue to spend billions with no return on our investment(s). If prisoners go to prison and are released with the same addictions, education and behavior that put them there in the first place, what has been accomplished? Nothing but the rest of us footing the bill for their housing, food and care for whatever term of imprisonment handed out.

I say it's time to take private corporations and their ilk off society's tit. Let us invest instead in programs and actions that really reduce crime and incarceration instead of encouraging it by continuing to fund non-productive systems and programs that simply increase the costs without providing a resolution or single benefit in exchange for our funding. In the face of articles warning us about the need for more prisons and tax dollars to pay for them, do you feel safer in your home? Or at work? Are you confident enough of our criminal justice system and prisons to allow your children to play in the street in the evening, or walk to and from the store around the corner now? No, and that's a direct result of allowing this problem to continue as is. In order to actually be safer in your home or office, it's necessary to correct the behavior of those who you perceive as a threat. That cannot and is not being done currently with warehousing of those who commit a crime. Instead our tax dollars should go toward eliminating the drug dependency that caused the behavior in the first place, or to get the perpetrator off of days filled with alcohol consumption that led to domestic violence. Those who are just not educated enough to avoid doing something stupid, need education instead of imprisonment.

Once we change direction and put those millions of tax dollars to use preventing crime and prison sentences and identifying and then addressing the causes of such behavior, we'll all be safer, more at ease and have more money in our collective pockets. Corporations now profiting from incarceration and prison labor can go someplace else to find their "gold at the end of the rainbow..."