Largest prison population both in absolute size AND per capita. Also, random fact, their constitution allows prisoners to be forced into slave labour. Also, another random fact, their prisons are run for profit. None of these facts are related of course!
Not to nitpick but not ALL prisons in the US are for-profit. They should be illegal though.
Fun fact - other countries that have for-profit prisons include the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Chile, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Peru, South Africa, South Korea and Thailand.
This won’t do much since most of these prisons operate under state jurisdiction, but in 2021, President Joe Biden issued an executive order to stop the United States Department of Justice from renewing further contracts with private prisons.
True, however there are bs for-profit elements to even the non-for-profit prisons. Predatory costs to calling / commissary / etc. that still benefit companies when the US imprisons more people.
Also...about 25% of the people incarcerated in America aren't even convicted of a crime yet.
Even if they're found innocent, it's likely already cost them their job or made it so they are so far behind on bills from not working that it becomes next to impossible to climb out from under
Listen I live in the USA, but if thats your best pushback to all those facts - should tell you what a dire state we are in. And prisons that aren't for profit still send out prisoners to for-profit industries to work, so it's kind of a moot point.
california spending 100k+ per prisoner but renting them out for pennies is one of the insane unsustainable aspects of the system and then going and saying "we can't afford to let them out" is mind numbing.
The whole circus is just to keep wages down and arrest anybody folks don't want in their shitty suburb.