Last year alone, the world's two largest private prison companies scored profits of nearly 3 billion dollars combined. How, you ask? By systematically increasing the number of people incarcerated in the United States. It's simple: as prisoners increase, profits increase. And where do these profits go? Back into the hands of those politicians who support drug, immigration, and other laws that classify more and more of us as 'criminals' for our lovely private prison corporations (the top 3 private prison corporations contributed over $2,200,000 to political campaigns in 2010 alone). And the cycle continues.
The business of locking up our fellow citizens is immoral and unpractical. Furthermore, it is preventing this country from making reasonable advances in drug and immigration policy.