Inspired by Natural Capital Ch.3

The constant expansion of prisons in the United States US) has become a social justice problem, and in short, the US is no longer the home of the free. The war on drugs, poverty, racial inequality, and lack of representation in the US government has set up the American public for failure. Prison overpopulation is now starting to put a strain on the local and state governments. Instead of changing outdated policies or laws, they want to outsource the problem to private prison companies. The largest prison company in the United States is Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), and at this point in time, the CCA has 61 facilities in the US alone. During recent negotiations, the CCA said they could operate these facilities for a cheaper cost than the local and state governments as long as they guaranteed a specific incarceration rate and retention rate. This seems unconstitutional, immoral, and illegal because the only way this grantee can be obtained is for the judicial branch to forgo early releases, give maximum penalties, and take advantage of poor, misrepresented individuals. This is extreme when a homeless man gets a longer sentence for stealing a roll of toilet paper from a government facility than a child molester. I witnessed this situation while serving on a grand jury years ago when just relooking at outdated laws and making adjustments can lessen the number of people incarcerated by having drug treatment facilities, legalizing medical marijuana, and minimizing lobbying. This is just a tiny part of the underlying problem, but a working solution is needed to sustain ourselves on this planet.