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Private Corrections

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Private Corrections
Linda Lewis-Nellum
National American University

Abstract
There is a growing concern in the United States about the increase of the prison population and how it directly correlates to the privatization of correctional facilities. We will delve into the major players that own and/or invest in privately own prisons, as well as the ethical dilemmas that follow and view if this type of capitalism is beneficial to the society.

Private Corrections
Major Players
In researching who benefitted the most from prisons being privatized, it became apparent that there are two companies, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), headed by Henri Wedell on the board of directors and The GEO Group, with George Zoley as CEO which earn millions of dollars in profit for the incarceration of an offender. Wedell, who owns 650,000 shares in CCA, worth 25 million dollars, was asked if he felt any moral shame for profiting from a legal system that jails more people than any other country in the world to which he replied, “America allow more freedom than any other country in the world, so there’ll be a certain number of people, who take advantage of that freedom, abuse it, and end up in prison.”(Ray Downs). George Zoley, who made at least 6 million dollars in salary and bonuses is so proud of his investment, he assures his shareholders that the incarceration rate will not be dropping anytime in the near future. How can these men guarantee that there will not be a drop in the incarceration rate to their investors? They utilize politicians to solidify high incarceration rates.
Politics
It can then be logically deduced, new laws with policies for stricter and longer sentencing needs to be implemented and there must be politician(s) willing to implement them; since politicians are responsible for creating and enforcing laws and statutes that governs this nation

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