Here’s an interesting story (that incidentally features nice photos of El Paso):
A Fusion investigation found that without a single vote in Congress, officials across three administrations: created a new classification of federal prisons only for immigrants; decided that private companies would run the facilities; and filled them by changing immigration enforcement practices.
“You build a prison, and then you’ve got to find someone to put in them,” said Texas state Sen. John Whitmire, who has seen five of the 13 Criminal Alien Requirement (CAR) prisons built in his state. “So they widen the net and find additional undocumented folks to fill them up”
It’s a little disconcerting that some people make so much money off of the incarceration industry. It has a huge potential for abuse.
“I had the impression then and I have the impression now that [private federal prisons] are a huge mistake.” — former Deputy Attorney General Phillip B. Heyman told Fusion.
And then there’s the ever-present revolving door between the public and private sectors. For instance, the story cites how Harry G. Lappin went from making $180,000 a year as the Director of the Bureau of Prisons from 2004 to 2011 to making $1,514,706 a year as the Executive VP & Chief Corrections Officer, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), from 2011 to the present. That kind of money would tempt even an honest man.