Private prison companies have been planning to make huge profits detaining immigrants for more than 15 years.

[highplainsdem]

I first ran across articles on this when I started keeping track of what ALEC - the American Legislative Exchange Council - was doing in state legislatures across the country, with Republicans quietly working to pass cookie-cutter rightwing bills often written with and in some cases almost entirely by corporations changing state laws for the profit of their businesses. In return, the Republican state lawmakers got huge donations. It was all very efficiently organized and largely under the media's radar.

That old thread at

https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x591230

has over 400 replies, most adding links to more info on the harm ALEC was doing.

After so many years, quite a few of those links no longer work.

But this one, to a 2010 NPR story, still does

https://www.npr.org/2010/10/28/130833741/prison-economics-help-drive-ariz-immigration-law

and one of the private prison corporations mentioned in it is GEO Group, which operates Delaney Hall in Newark, where the mayor was arrested yesterday. They weren't the only such corporation mentioned.

From that 2010 article about a bill passed in Arizona:

And this bill was an important one for the company. According to Corrections Corporation of America reports reviewed by NPR, executives believe immigrant detention is their next big market. Last year, they wrote that they expect to bring in "a significant portion of our revenues" from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that detains illegal immigrants.

-snip-

In May, The Geo Group had a conference call with investors. When asked about the bill, company executives made light of it, asking, "Did they have some legislation on immigration?"

After company officials laughed, the company's president, Wayne Calabrese, cut in.

"This is Wayne," he said. "I can only believe the opportunities at the federal level are going to continue apace as a result of what's happening. Those people coming across the border and getting caught are going to have to be detained and that for me, at least I think, there's going to be enhanced opportunities for what we do."

[SheltieLover]

1. Red shithole TN is big on prison for profit grift

This obviously should be illegal!

People are forevermore escaping from these places.

I lived in Chicago burbs for over 50 yrs. Never once do I recall an escape from Statesville & only onve or twice from Cook County.

I hope a future admin will deem these places illegal!

[Faux pas]

2. Kicking with DISGUST

[Irish_Dem]

3. Cheaper to deport them back to home countries?