Dr Boyce: How Companies Make Money off Prisoners

Dr. Byron Price is a black scholar with a mission. His book, 'Merchandizing Prisoners' opens the door for a discussion on how the African American community is being financially pillaged by the prison industry. You may not know this, but private corporations earn money from inmate incarceration and have a direct financial incentive to house more. This is a problem, since unfocused profit maximization does not leave much room for prisoner rehabilitation. Dr. Price is one of the leading scholars in America, and he has taken it upon himself to help solve this problem.

1) What is your name and what do you do for a living?

Byron E. Price, associate professor, political science department, and interim director, Barbara Jordan Institute for Policy Research

2) Tell us about your book? What does it teach us?

According to National Union of Public and General Employees, "This book examines the steady growth of private, for-profit prison firms and the correctional-commercial complex that has developed tangentially with the private prison industry." It also details the strange bedfellows that have been brought together to expand this industry.

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Slave History Unearthed

As "Sarah," Johnson plays a fictional slave who puts a human face on the grim statistics: In 1760, Philadelphia's population was 11,000; about 1,100 were black, and nearly 900 of them were slaves.

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Slave History Unearthed

Actress Diane Johnson portrays "Sarah," a fictional slave during speaks to a tour group in character at Christ Church's cemetery in Philadelphia. Philadelphia's most famous Colonial-era church is opening the eyes of visitors with the revelation: Slaves worshiped alongside parishioners like Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross.

The remains of buildings, including the house George Washington lived in while he was president, are shown at the sight of an archaeological dig in front of the Liberty Bell Center, top right, in Philadelphia, in this June 5, 2007, file photo. Historic Philadelphia's ties to slavery emerged in a big way in 2007 as an estimated 250,000 people witnessed the excavation of a slave passageway in the President's House, where Washington lived while Philadelphia was the nation's capital.

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., speaks about race during a news conference just blocks from Independence Hall and the Christ Church burial ground in Philadelphia, Tuesday, March 18, 2008. the city's most famous Colonial-era church is opening the eyes of visitors with a revelation: Slaves worshipped alongside parishioners like Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross.

The city's ties to slavery emerged in 2007 as an estimated 250,000 people witnessed the excavation of a slave passageway in the President's House, where Washington lived while Philadelphia was the nation's capital.

As "Sarah," Johnson plays a fictional slave who puts a human face on the grim statistics: In 1760, Philadelphia's population was 11,000; about 1,100 were black, and nearly 900 of them were slaves.

Founded in 1695, Christ Church was the first parish of the Church of England in Pennsylvania and the birthplace of the U.S. Episcopal Church. Tours are given daily, but special presentations on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons offer slavery-related narratives.

I underscore how these for-profit private prison companies have gone public and are trading on the stock exchanges and the inimical impact of prisons being publicly traded. The book debunks many of the claims as to why states seek prison privatization and demonstrates that incarceration is the new form of slavery. ...This work sets the record straight about the decision to privatize state prisons, revealing the political bias that often drives these policy choices.

3) Why do so many black men end up in prison?

The collateral consequences of a felony conviction makes it impossible for African American males to reintegrate into society. A felony conviction for drugs makes one ineligible for financial aid, living in public housing, receiving welfare benefits, obtaining a vocational licenses, such as a barber's license. Social-control strategies are employed to maintain the status quo. Over-policing of the African American community and the criminalization of black males all lead to the disproportionate incarceration of black males. Black males are more likely to be expelled from school, tracked, labeled, placed in special education, be punished for adolescent behavior and criminalized for adolescent behavior. Thus, there is an expectation that black males will end up in prisons, and these expectations are internalized by many black youth. It ends up as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

4) Is there money being made by incarcerating prison inmates? If so, how is it being made and who is earning it?

Corporations such as Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the Geo Group (formerly Wakenhut), Avalon Correctional Services, Cornell Companies and Industry Property Management. CCA has a $2 billion market cap, followed by the Geo Group with a $922 million market cap. The money is made by contracting out the inmates' labor to Fortune 500 companies and, in some cases, they compete for public works contracts. CCA and the others are making money, and their stock trades on the stock exchange. Telecommunications industries pay prisons to put pay phones in prisons. Pay phones in prisons make $15,000 a day. Transportation companies and all sorts of cottage industries develop around the prison industry. UNICOR, or Federal Prison Industries, created by Congress, was one of the first prison industries established to exploit inmate labor. States also pay a per diem per inmate to private prison corporations.

5) Are the prisons being cooperative in reducing the abuse and sexual assault of prison inmates?

Prison rape is encouraged by guards as a form of punishment. They are not very cooperative when it comes to ameliorating prison rape. The increasing HIV infection rate of heterosexual black females can be directly traced to the prison population. It has also placed black women at a disadvantage, because it has reduced the number of marriageable black men and has undermined black women's ability to negotiate better mates. Many end up with men from prison and end up getting infected by these men.

6) Are there any efforts that have been successful at confronting the strange financial incentives of the prison system?

Not at the level they need to be. We should lead a divestiture campaign of private prisons, and we should campaign to abolish private prisons.

7) What do you think are the solutions to the problems cited in your book?

Our community should launch a campaign to get rid of the laws in place that continue to punish black males long after that have paid their debt to society. For example, the inability to get financial aid. We should ban the question on employment applications that ask, "Have you been convicted of a felony?" We should take control of our children's education -- we need to get our children around people who love them. Abolish gangster rap and reduce the influence of hip-hop because it fosters a thug culture and cultivates misogyny and thuggery. Black men should play a more active role in their children's lives. We should also create employment opportunities for our community.

This interview was conducted by Dr. Boyce Watkins, finance professor at Syracuse University. To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered directly to your e-mail, please click here.