President Obama’s IncarcerNation
http://www.nationofchange.org/president-obama-s-incarcernation-1335274655
....In October 2011 President Obama tapped Broderick Johnson as a senior advisor for his re-election campaign. According to OpenSecrets, a clearinghouse for lobbying data, Johnson lobbied extensively on behalf of the GEO Group since the mid-1990s. And Johnson’s so-called “advisorship” comes on the heels of President Obama’s 2010 nomination of Stacia Hylton as the new Director of the United States Marshals Service (USMS). Just months before her nomination Hylton started a private prison consulting firm— Hylton Kirk and Associates—while working at the Department of Justice (DOJ) as the Federal Detention Trustee. After retiring as a trustee, Hylton agreed to a consulting contract with The GEO Group worth $112,500.
As current Director of the U.S. Marshals Service, Hylton now leads an agency that has a well-established contractual relationship with The GEO Group. In 2011, the U.S. Marshal’s accounted for 11% of GEO’s revenue. With Hylton in a position to recommend government contracts with private prisons, the ongoing influence of private prison companies in the public sphere remains largely undisturbed.
Since President Obama’s first day in office the Corrections Corporation of America and The GEO Group have been awarded $1.7 and 1.8 billion dollars in federal contracts, respectively. And beginning in October 2011 the Corrections Corporation of America has taken its place as the government’s top contractor whereas the GEO Group comfortably maintains the third-place position. Finally, according to USAspending, over one-quarter of private prison contracts have been established under “non-compete” agreements.
The Obama Administration’s complicity with the private prison industry must not go unnoticed today or this November. For more information on private prison divestment please visit the National Prison Divestment Campaign’s website at
http://prisondivestment.wordpress.com.
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