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Are Private Prisons The 'New Slavery?'

Very few people will take this serious enough as they are not concerned and they are busy dealing with this hard life as it goes. However prisons/ jail or whatever you call it are now used for money making. It is not as straight forward as you would think however if you read between the lines you will see it clearly.

Yes you've guessed it! The government is failing at running most of the prisons so they pay private companies to operate the jails. Thus the Jails are run privately to cut costs and make the jails 'better'. The private sector taking over or having a mere part in the running of prisons is wrong in my opinion as the prevention of crime should be the main focus instead of making more jails and making them profitable. Does that benefit the people or does it fatten-up someone's pockets?

It is clear that the government/ police system/ judicial system etc are not doing there jobs properly in the first place. I know of situations where they convict innocent people, important cases are thrown out of court, which sends another possible murderer free to continue doing crime. We have these initial problems to deal with as it is and it is more disheartening to find out that the government that we pay our taxes to can't even run prisons properly thus handing over to the private sector.

Without a doubt private companies that operate prisons will want the best returns from their prison business and will do anything to cut costs and maximise revenue. Businesses sells goods and services for money and do not be surprised if prisoners are being exploited to bring success to these private companies. For example you have a loved one in jail and you want to visit them and bring them lunch or food, you might not be allowed if you are prevented from doing this as prisons will sell their own food therefore you may have to bring the money but not the food. They may even charge high premium rates for phone calls. If this is not in place now then look out soon. Guards will have their own rules and will beat up prisoners even more. Don't get me wrong if a prisoner does something like murder or rape I believe they deserve everything they get in prison. Other means of money making that these private companies might do is to cut back on spending. To do this they might not give prisoners the basic essentials such as blankets, not enough food etc while receiving money from the government. It was reported in the new that it costs the government about £27,000 to keep a person in prison. They obviously think it's too much which may be the reason they are employing private companies to takeover the day to day running of the Jails. Maybe these private companies can bring this figure down to £10,000 a year for each prisoner?

In the United states we now have prisoners working in prison factories making designer clothes for cheap prices 45 cents an hour according to a report by Chris Levister's article 'Prison Labour: The New Slavery' dated September 18/2006. The report also states that each of the products the prisoners produce dare sold for as much as $350! And it cost them 45 cents an hour. If you read the article you will see that this is now the new trend and it is getting even bigger. Get this. I quote from the Article (paragraph Three)...'if prisoners refuse to work they are moved to disciplinary housing and lose canteen privileges. Most importantly they lose 'good time/ credit that reduces their sentence'. Does this remind you of slavery?

It is not shocking when government officials are calling for more prisons to lock up more people. Though I wonder why they don't invest money in a bid to prevent crime thus preventing prison then there will be no need to build new prisons. For people who think long term I would expect something as logical as my curiosity nevertheless they are coming out with nonsensical solutions. Instead of building more prisons quickly why not look at the root of the crimes and deter people from crime that way. The way these people are going they might need a new Australia. Yet this might not be needed as it seems there is big money in the prison now as it creates cheap labour for top brand companies. For me I can clearly see how businesses and prisons are cooperating greatly for one cause?profit. This is nothing new people, corporations were built on slavery.

When people say that the prison system is the new form of slavery I cannot disagree with the statement as too much evidence is pointing is that direction. First evidence is just to look at the disproportionate level of African American Prisoners in the Jails or anywhere where there are African people in the West the Jails will be 'filled with blacks'. We have a system of successfully turning out black criminals it seems and this scenario is like a puzzle only a few people can put together. Form the single Mothers, to racism in schools, workplace, trident, no father figure and the unruly teenagers etc. Like I said many times before the system that upholds slavery successfully is the same system that is being used on us as equal citizens today hence it is not surprising to me why blacks find it fifty times harder to excel in society consequently why many of the young men end up in solitary confinement. This leads me to say that these people in charge of national affairs are useless and the power lies with the people. For example if each family raise their children properly to certain protocols then we would have less of these problems. My advice is NOT to leave it to the schools or the police it might be too late then. Modern day prisons should prove a deterrent for Parents to take more responsibility in their child's development. Don't let your child be a new slave to these prisons.

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