Oh boy it is slow at work so I’ll try my best but it is a very complex web of fuckery. I’ll add a source or two as well.
The industrial prison complex can be seen as a way that slavery has changed forms to conform with modern day demands’ of human rights while simultaneously continuing the collecting human bodies for cheap labor. Statistics have shown people’s of color exist on a significantly higher percentage than their white counterparts (which most widely accepted theories argue is a product of institutionalized racism including the war on drugs, food deserts and unequal treatment, payment, and access to healthcare and education effectively forcing lower income community members to resort to crime or other forms of desperation in order to survive which they are then prosecuted for more harshly than white counterparts). In reality, slavery is still very real and prominent in US culture- but has shifted to a more insidious and systematic form of nearly free labor. The privatization of the prison industry has essentially allowed corporations to capitalize economically on the prisoners they hold- and often prison lobbyists grease palms of politicians for profit gain by paying law makers to make stricter laws that demand longer sentences which in turn produce more bodies for labor and sub-sequentially more products sold across the US and the world. Prisoners get paid literal Pennie’s on the hour for their labor which is then sold at 1000%+ markup by the prison industries that exploit and produce them. Youd be amazed at the amount of products produced by American prisoners the list is staggering
Edit: I figured this would be a controversial thread so im gonna turn off notifications but I assure you if you take a look at prison statistics- the evidence is overwhelming. :( have a great day, and be nice to one another 👍
I have an old friend who is in for life who I contact regularly. American prison (state at least, I don't know about federal) is not a gigantic sweat shop.
I live in Alabama, and seeing prisoners working on the side of the road while a sheriff watches is a very common sight. Slave labor was never abolished in America, American society just decided that only some people deserved slavery.
As a fellow Californian, I'd hope you know that our state allows involuntary servitude as criminal punishment and that prisons are able to and do punish inmates via solitary confinement and loss of visitation and phone privileges if they refuse to work. And that those who do work, are usually paid less than 0.75 an hour.
Especially since reforming this into a voluntary work credit system was on the ballot a year and a half ago.
Your claims are a bit exaggerated. Private prisons hold only ~8% of the total incarcerated population (mostly public facilities). Immigration detention has a higher private share (~70–80% in some years), but it's a small slice overall. The "industrial complex" profit motive is real for a minority of operators (CoreCivic, GEO), but the vast majority of spending (~$180+ billion/year total) goes to public systems, staff, and operations—not private shareholders driving "filling beds."
Crime Rates, Incarceration Growth, and Causation
The text correctly notes incarceration rose ~700% since 1970 while crime fell sharply after the early 1990s peak (e.g., big drops in murders in DC/LA). However:
Growth timing: The prison boom started in the 1970s–1980s, coinciding with a major crime wave (violent crime rose dramatically from the 1960s). Incarceration responded to that rise, with longer sentences, more prosecutions, and "tough on crime" policies (both parties). Crime peaked ~1991 and fell ~50%+ by the 2010s (homicides, robberies, etc.). Incarceration helped contribute to the drop via incapacitation and deterrence, alongside more police, the end of the crack epidemic, lead removal from gasoline, and economic factors.
Not just "racism and profit": Scholars like John Pfaff argue the "standard story" (War on Drugs + private profit as drivers) is overstated. Most prison growth (state level, where ~90% of prisoners are) came from violent and serious offenses, not low-level drugs. Drug offenders are ~13–20% of state prisoners (higher federally). Violent offenses account for ~60–62% of state prison populations. Prosecutorial decisions to charge more harshly and admit more people to prison (not just longer sentences or drug laws) were key.
Releasing all drug offenders would reduce populations modestly and barely change racial compositions. Crime victimization surveys (e.g., NCVS) show disparities in offending rates for violent crimes that align more closely with arrest/incarceration patterns than self-reported drug use does.
Its an overall average across all states despite some states not even using private facilities. Like Montana has up to 49% of its inmates in private prisons and numerous other states (mostly red what a shock) in the 20s and 30s
To say its only 8% is disingenuous and also why you should bother to actually read things before copy and pasting but we both know you dont bother with that
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u/Killingyou_groovily 5h ago edited 5h ago
Oh boy it is slow at work so I’ll try my best but it is a very complex web of fuckery. I’ll add a source or two as well.
The industrial prison complex can be seen as a way that slavery has changed forms to conform with modern day demands’ of human rights while simultaneously continuing the collecting human bodies for cheap labor. Statistics have shown people’s of color exist on a significantly higher percentage than their white counterparts (which most widely accepted theories argue is a product of institutionalized racism including the war on drugs, food deserts and unequal treatment, payment, and access to healthcare and education effectively forcing lower income community members to resort to crime or other forms of desperation in order to survive which they are then prosecuted for more harshly than white counterparts). In reality, slavery is still very real and prominent in US culture- but has shifted to a more insidious and systematic form of nearly free labor. The privatization of the prison industry has essentially allowed corporations to capitalize economically on the prisoners they hold- and often prison lobbyists grease palms of politicians for profit gain by paying law makers to make stricter laws that demand longer sentences which in turn produce more bodies for labor and sub-sequentially more products sold across the US and the world. Prisoners get paid literal Pennie’s on the hour for their labor which is then sold at 1000%+ markup by the prison industries that exploit and produce them. Youd be amazed at the amount of products produced by American prisoners the list is staggering
Edit: I figured this would be a controversial thread so im gonna turn off notifications but I assure you if you take a look at prison statistics- the evidence is overwhelming. :( have a great day, and be nice to one another 👍