Prisons for profit
Many voters are familiar with political payola. For instance, Big Corporation’s crony capitalism: Big Pharma’s 12 percent R&D (Research and Development) and 18 percent net-profit with copycat drugs; and Big Banking’s Federal Reserve System with its quantitative easing.
For the Republican Party of Florida, there is a new way to game the system. It is the private prison industry that has become one of the major financial contributors to the Republican Party’s ample coffers. Apparently, the incarceration and oppression of Florida’s most vulnerable citizens plays second fiddle to the party’s need for corporate sponsors.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, is one of its biggest beneficiaries. Rubio’s history of close ties to the nation’s second largest for-profit prison company, GEO Group, stretches back to his days as speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. During that period, GEO was awarded a state contract for $110 million. GEO and Corrections Corp. of America now rake in a combined $3.3 billion in annual revenue and the private federal prison population more than doubled between 2000 and 2010, according to the Justice Policy Institute. Over his career, Rubio has received nearly $40,000 from GEO. "
*The Republican Party of Florida PAC (Political Action Committee) has received nearly $2.5 million from GEO and Corrections Corps. of America since 1989."
http://www.news-press.com/story/opinion/contributors/2015/05/19/prisons-profit/27593905/
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