On Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 2:25 PM, Nathan <n.crazeddoberman at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 12:27:49PM -0800, Dennis Claxton wrote:
>> At 12:15 PM 2/15/2012, 123hop at comcast.net wrote:
>>
>>
>> >I hope you're right.
>>
>>
>> I just noticed the Cornell study I sent a link to says "By 2001, the
>> total United States inmate population had swelled to a staggering
>> 6.5 million inmates"
>>
>> That number is for the "correctional population" meaning it includes
>> people on probation or on parole, i.e. not behind bars. It's
>> upwards of 7 million now, but falling.
>
> If I'm not mistaken privatize prisons only house about 10% of the
> imprisoned population and only account for a similar amount of the total
> expenditure on prisons. Their existence is concerning but I think
> something of a chimera with regards to the broader issue of
> imprisonment. At the same time it is indicative of the same creeping
> "MBA consciousness". IIRC total prison population is more like 2
> million. If I'm not mistaken the use of inmate labor is likewise another
> overblown concern as far as its economic significance--while the surplus
> labor there is huge, it's a small portion of what goes on.
>
> There's also the rents paid to vendors like Aramark for the 1400
> calories a day they provide to prisoners.
>
> I tend to think that practically opposing vastly-underpaid prisoner
> labor is a much easier target than the privatization of prisons, which
> at present isn't significant though it quite certainly could be.
>
> --
> Nathan
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-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929
530 898 5321 fax 530 898 5901 http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com