American Gulag as the newest form of capitalism
An interesting article recently published, “Democracy in America Today,” said, in particular, about such a side of the American system as prisons. Mention was also made of the so-called commercial prisons: “In the USA,“ business ”is flourishing, exploiting the labor of prisoners. Every 10 prisoner in this country is held in a commercial prison. In 2010, two private prison corporations received about 3 billion dollars in profits. ” This is a fairly new social phenomenon in the life of America that deserves to tell more about it ...
The concept and form of "prison slavery"
In the United States, 220 thousand people have been imprisoned in “commercial prisons” today. In American literature, this phenomenon is dubbed "prison slavery." This refers to the use of prison labor. At the same time, it is necessary to clarify: the use of labor of prisoners for the purpose of making a profit by private capital (in contrast, say, to such work as cleaning the territories and premises of a prison, to do some work in the interests of the state).
Privatization of labor of prisoners in the United States is carried out in two main forms:
- leasing of prisoners by state prisons as a labor force for rent to private companies;
- privatization of prison institutions, their transformation into private companies of various forms of ownership (including joint-stock).
The 13-I amendment to the US Constitution, which prohibits forced labor, contains a clause: "Slavery and forced coercion to work, with the exception of punishment for a crime properly convicted, should not exist in the US." Thus, slavery is legal in American prisons.
The first of these forms ("rent" of prisoners) appeared in America in the XIX century - immediately after the civil war of 1861 – 1865. and abolition of direct slavery to eliminate the acute shortage of cheap labor. The released slaves were accused of being indebted to their former owners or for petty theft and put in prison. Then they were "rented out" for picking cotton, building railroads, working in mines. In Georgia, for example, in the period 1870 – 1910. 88% "leased" were negros, in Alabama - 93%. In Mississippi, before 1972, there was a huge plantation that used the labor of prisoners on the basis of a "lease" agreement. And at the beginning of the XXI century, at least 37 states legalized the use of “leased” prisoners by private companies.
American researcher of the problem of "prison slavery" Vicky Pelaez in the article "Prison business in the USA: big business or a new form of slavery?" writes: “The list of these corporations (which“ rent ”prisoners - VK) includes the very cream of the American corporate community: IBM, Boeing, Motorola, Microsoft, AT&T, Wireless, Texas Instrument, Dell, Compaq, Honeywell, Hewlett -Packard, Nortel, Lucent Technologies, 3Com, Intel, Northern Telecom, TWA, Nordstrom's, Revlon, Macy's, Pierre Cardin, Target Stores and many more. All these companies were enthusiastic about the rosy economic outlook that prison labor promised. From 1980 to 1994, profits (from the use of prison labor - VK) increased from $ 392 million to 1 billion 31 million. "
The benefits of such a “collaboration” for private corporations are obvious: they pay “rented” slaves at the minimum wage rates set by the respective state. And in some places and below this norm. For example, in the state of Colorado - about 2 dollars per hour, which is significantly less than the minimum rate.
Prisoners of some southern states of America are in a particularly difficult situation, where, like before the abolition of slavery in the 19th century, they continue to work on the same cotton plantations. Of particular prominence was the maximum security prison in the state of Louisiana called Angola. Prisoners in this prison farm 18 with thousands of acres of land on which cotton, wheat, soybean, and corn are grown. Prisoners in Angola receive for their work only from 4 to 20 cents per hour. Not only that: they leave only half of the money earned, and put the other half on the prisoner's account for payment to him at the time of release. True, units come out of “Angola” (only 3%): the majority of prisoners have long periods, besides, they rush out of life from ruthless exploitation and poor conditions.
There are other similar farm prisons in Louisiana. Total 16% of prisoners in this state are sentenced to agricultural work. In the neighboring states of Texas and Arkansas, the proportion of such prisoners is 17 and 40%, respectively.
The second form of “prison slavery” - private prisons - appeared in the USA in the 1980s under President R. Reagan, and then the privatization of state prisons continued under the presidents George Bush Sr. and Clinton. The first privatization of the state prison in Tennessee took place in February 1983 by venture company Massey Burch Investment.
US prison complex
According to Vika Pelaez, in the United States, 2008 already had 27 private prisons with 100 thousand prisoners in 62 states (for comparison: 10 years before this - 5 private prisons with 2 thousand prisoners). These prisons were operated by 18 private corporations. The largest of them - Correctional Corporation of America (CCA) and Wawkenhat (the new name of this company - G4S); they controlled 75% of all prisoners in private prisons. CCA shares from 1986 began to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2009, its capitalization was estimated at 2,26 billion dollars.
Private prison companies enter into long-term concession agreements with the government for the management of prisons. At the same time, they receive from the state certain funds for each prisoner. The wage of the prisoner is determined by the company itself; the rates are much lower than the sums paid by companies that exploit prisoners on a rental basis (the first form of “prison slavery”). Wage rates in private prisons sometimes equal 17 cents per hour. For the most skilled labor they pay no more than 50 cents. In prisons, in contrast to production companies, there can be no talk of strikes, trade union activities, vacations, and sick leave. In order to “stimulate” the labor activity of “prison slaves”, employers promise to “shorten the term of detention” for “good work”. However, the system of fines is also in effect, which can actually make a life sentence.
The US prison industry is based both on the direct use of prison labor by private capital (its “rent” or direct operation in private prisons) and indirectly. By indirect use is meant that the organization of production is carried out by the prison administration, and the products produced by the prisoners on the basis of the contract are supplied to private companies. The price of such products is usually much lower than the market. It is rather difficult to determine the extent of the indirect use of labor by prisoners by private US companies. There may be a large number of abuses on the basis of collusion of the administration of the state prison and a private company. This type of business is usually referred to as “shadow”.
According to the American press, a "prison industrial complex" began to form on the basis of private prisons. He began to occupy a prominent place in the production of many types of products in the United States. Today, the US prison industry produces 100% of all military helmets, uniform belts and belts, body armor, ID cards, shirts, trousers, tents, backpacks and flasks for the country's army. In addition to military equipment and uniforms, the prison produces 98% of the assembly tool market, 46% of bulletproof vests, 36% of household appliances, 30% of headphones, microphones, megaphones and 21% of office furniture, aviation and medical equipment and much more.
In the Vicky Pelaez article, we read: "The prison industry is one of the fastest growing industries, and its investors are on Wall Street." Referring to another source, the same author writes: “This multimillion-dollar industry has its own trade shows, conventions, websites, online catalogs. She runs direct advertising campaigns, owns design and construction firms, investment funds on Wall Street, building management firms, food supply companies, and she also has armed guards and felt-padded cameras. ”
The profit margin in the US prison industry is very high. In this regard, transnational corporations (TNCs) have declined and even the incentive to transfer their production from the USA to economically backward countries has disappeared. It is even possible that the process can go in the opposite direction. Vicky Pelaez writes: “Thanks to prison labor, the United States once again proved to be an attractive place to invest in labor, which used to be the lot of third world countries. In Mexico, an assembly facility near the border closed down and transferred its operations to St. Quentin Prison (California). In Texas, 150 workers were laid off from the factory and they signed a contract with Lockhart Prison, where electrical circuits are now being assembled for companies such as IBM and Compaq. A member of the Oregon State House recently asked Nike to hurry to move production from Indonesia to Oregon, saying that "here the manufacturer will have no transportation problems, here we will provide competitive prison labor".
Thirst for profit as a growth factor of the American Gulag
American business felt that the use of its own "prison slaves" was a "gold mine." Accordingly, the largest US corporations began to delve into how the contingent of prisoners is formed in American prisons, and do everything possible to ensure that these prisoners are as large as possible. We believe that it was the interests of corporate business that contributed to the fact that the number of prisoners in the United States began to grow rapidly. To quote Vicki Pelaez again: “Private hiring of prisoners provokes a desire to put people in jail. Prisons depend on income. Corporate equity holders who make money on prison labor are lobbying sentences for longer periods to provide themselves with labor. The system feeds itself, ”says a study by the Progressive Labor Party, which considers the prison system“ an imitation of Nazi Germany in terms of forced slave labor and concentration camps. ”
However, even if prisons are state-owned, the use of prisoners' labor is beneficial to the authorities. In state prisons, the rates for prison labor are higher than in private ones. Prisoners receive 2 – 2,5 dollars per hour (not counting overtime pay). However, state prisons are in fact on “cost accounting”: half of the prisoners' earnings are taken from them to pay for the “rent” of the cell and food. Therefore, talk about the fact that state prisons in the US "burden" the country's budget, we need just to justify their transfer to private hands.
Back in 1972, there were less than 300 thousand prisoners in the United States. In the 1990 year - already 1 million. Today, the United States, where there are already more than 2,3 million prisoners, tops the list of countries by the number of people in prison. This is roughly 25% of all those serving sentences in the world (with a US share in the world population of 5%). The 754 number of prisoners in 100 thousand people makes the United States a world leader in terms of the number of prisoners to the total population. According to the American specialized publication "California Prison Focus", in stories humanity has not yet had a society that would keep so many of its members in prison. In the US, more people are imprisoned than in any other country — half a million more than in China, although the population of the PRC is five times larger than in the United States. Soviet GULAG 1930's in scale, it loses much to the American GULAG at the beginning of the 21st century.
If we add Americans to the number of prisoners who are subject to conditional and parole procedures, then it turns out that, in fact, a total of 7,3 million people are covered by the system of punishments, that is, approximately every fortieth resident of the country (and every twentieth adult resident of the United States).
This contingent of "conditional" prisoners is described in great detail by Russian-speaking American Viktor Orel, a former officer of the Nevada Prison Administration. The 5 of millions of Americans who received “sentences” but are outside prisons are those who did not have enough space in existing correctional facilities. According to V. Orel, American prisons are overcrowded - the number of their inhabitants is approximately 200 percent of the norm. For example, according to October 2007, there were 170,6 thousand prisoners in California prisons with a capacity of 83 thousand. In order to give the opportunity to convicts sentenced to "terms" to the Americans, they have to release those who are already in the cell . Not always such a “liberalism” is justified, since those released to commit again commit crimes (such, according to V. Orel, among those released are 95%). The reasons for such recidivism are partly in the people themselves who are released, but the main reason is a socio-economic nature. Employers do not want to hire a former prisoner, and the latter, in order to earn a living, returns to his former path. Among those who are outside prisons there is a large category of so-called domestic prisoners. These are those who are under house arrest, awaiting the released bed in prison.
Here is how V. Oryol describes these “domestic prisoners”: “A separate category included in the above mentioned figure (5 of millions of convicted Americans outside prison walls - V.K.) are prisoners who“ imprison ”houses waiting for places in the present the prison. What is written below is not fiction or fiction, but the reality of contemporary American life. In the home "confinement" they are held by an electronic bracelet, worn on the ankle. The sensor on the bracelet is connected directly to the remote control in the municipal police department. If “ringed” has moved more than 150 feet (30 meters) from his home, the electronic device sends an alarm signal to the console. This amounts to an escape attempt and a prisoner can add a prison sentence. Exactly the same thing happens if the “prisoner” at home tries to remove the bracelet. The waiting period of a place in prison is not included in the general term of punishment. The very same waiting period is not defined. But in fact, for one bed released in prison there are two domestic prisoners waiting in line. ”
Future plans for US prison corporations
Corporate lobbyists ensure that any violation of the law is punishable by imprisonment. An analysis of American legislation shows significant "progress" in the relocation of American citizens from their homes and apartments to prison cells. Including they seek the abolition of "conditional and parole." Lobbyists ensure that people are sentenced to imprisonment for non-violent crimes and receive long prison sentences for storing microscopic quantities of prohibited substances. Federal law provides for a five-year term without the right to parole for storing 5 grams of crack or 3,5 ounces of heroin (1 ounce = 28,35 g) or 10 years for storing less than 2 ounces of cocaine or crack. For 500 grams of pure cocaine, the same law provides only a five-year term. Most of those who use pure cocaine are either rich or middle-class whites. Blacks and Hispanics use raw cocaine. In Texas, a person can be sentenced to more than two years in prison for 4 ounces of marijuana. In New York State, the 1973 anti-drug law of the year provides for 15 years in prison to life for 4 ounces of any prohibited substance. According to V. Oryol, 57% of prisoners in US prisons sit for drug use. In their crimes, not only is there no violence, but they themselves often become victims of violence. At one time, President Clinton rightly stated that those who use drugs should not be punished, but treated. However, these words remained words. The US authorities, along with business, are interested in distributing drugs in the country, as this is a very effective way to increase the number of “prison slaves”.
Lobbyists of corporations have also succeeded in adopting the “Three Crimes” laws in 13 states, which provide a life sentence for any three crimes (not even related to violence). Publications appeared in the American press saying that the adoption of only these laws would require the construction of 20 federal prisons.
Another area of corporate lobbying is the maximum lengthening of prison sentences. For this, various amendments are made to the laws. Including those that allow you to lengthen the time spent in prison for any, even minor misconduct of the prisoner. Private prison companies sometimes impose “fines” in the form of lengthening sentences. Thus, in the private company SSA mentioned above, for any violation of prisoners, 30 days are added. A study in prisons in New Mexico found that federal prisoners receive eight times more early exemptions for “good behavior” than prisoners in SSA.
Corporations seek to increase the resources of an almost free labor force in private prisons through their influence on court decisions. The history of Pennsylvania had a wide resonance in 2008. Then it became known that two judges for bribes received from the owners of two private prisons for juvenile delinquents, sentenced the convicted persons to the most stringent sentences in order to guarantee the filling of these two prisons with free labor. The total amount of bribes was 2,6 million.
In order for people who have received “terms” to turn from a potential resource of slave force into a real one, it is necessary to place them all in prisons, which are sorely lacking. In recent years, a public-private partnership has been actively used in the US prison and industrial complex - the equal participation of federal, state and business authorities in the financing of capital investments in the expansion of the US GULAG. These investments are now more effective than, for example, investments in the development of "high" technologies.
Judge for yourself: according to V. Orl, the state invests in the country's prison system (a total of five thousand federal and state prisons) annually 60 billion dollars, while earning a profit of 300%.
The author of the book "The Closed World of America" writes: "It is terrible to think that today the United States considers the prison industry as the potential of a future ideal state, where a society of prisoners for pennies creates benefits for a handful of the haves of this world."
However, while the “potential of the future ideal state” is far from being used at full capacity. According to the latest data, there are 220 thousands of prisoners in private commercial prisons. In relation to the total number of people in US prisons, this is not very much: around 10%. In relation to the number of all sentenced to prison - about 3%. At the same time, apparently, not less number of prisoners of state prisons is leased to private capital. There is also an indirect use of the labor of prisoners in state prisons, when the latter enter into (secretly) contracts for the manufacture of certain goods with the help of the labor of prisoners. Still, this business is not enough.
Therefore, private capital directs the main efforts not even to increase the number of prisoners, but to ensure that all of them are under the control of “prison” corporations as quickly as possible.
American experience of "prison slavery" in other countries
The American example of using prison labor in the interests of private capital has turned out to be “contagious”. Private prisons also appeared in a number of other countries: Great Britain, Sweden, Estonia, Australia, Brazil. For example, in the last of these countries, private owners run 17 prisons, which contain 2% of all prisoners. In the UK, the first private prison on 400 seats was opened in 1992 in the Yorkshire county by the security company G4S. Soon this corporation became the leader of the prison business in the UK. In 2002, she acquired the American prison corporation Wackenhut, obtaining the 25% of the US private prison business market. The next private prison corporation in the UK is Serco. Shares of both companies were quoted on the London Stock Exchange. At the end of May 4, the capitalization of these companies was equal to 2010 billion and 3,67 billion pounds, respectively.
In Israel, a law was passed in 2004 allowing for the creation of private prisons. Israeli billionaire Lev Levaev, together with the American prison corporation Emerald, began construction of a private prison on 2007 in 800, the construction cost $ 360 million. Opponents of the 2004 law of the year filed a protest in the Israeli Supreme Court. In November 2009, the court ruled that the country's prison system cannot be based on private economic interests. Thus, the project of the first private prison in Israel was “frozen”.
The first pilot projects appear in other countries. In Japan, in May 2007, the first new prison opened in 50 years, which immediately acquired the status of "private". It is designed for 1000 people convicted of minor crimes. In Estonia, where there is the highest percentage of prisoners in Europe (relative to the total population - 0,34), there are two private prisons. In Latvia several years ago, the Ministry of Justice considered the possibility of building private prisons as one of the ways to bring the country out of crisis. Similar projects are also discussed in Lithuania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. We are witnessing the emergence of "prison capitalism" on a global scale.
The concept and form of "prison slavery"
In the United States, 220 thousand people have been imprisoned in “commercial prisons” today. In American literature, this phenomenon is dubbed "prison slavery." This refers to the use of prison labor. At the same time, it is necessary to clarify: the use of labor of prisoners for the purpose of making a profit by private capital (in contrast, say, to such work as cleaning the territories and premises of a prison, to do some work in the interests of the state).
Privatization of labor of prisoners in the United States is carried out in two main forms:
- leasing of prisoners by state prisons as a labor force for rent to private companies;
- privatization of prison institutions, their transformation into private companies of various forms of ownership (including joint-stock).
The 13-I amendment to the US Constitution, which prohibits forced labor, contains a clause: "Slavery and forced coercion to work, with the exception of punishment for a crime properly convicted, should not exist in the US." Thus, slavery is legal in American prisons.
The first of these forms ("rent" of prisoners) appeared in America in the XIX century - immediately after the civil war of 1861 – 1865. and abolition of direct slavery to eliminate the acute shortage of cheap labor. The released slaves were accused of being indebted to their former owners or for petty theft and put in prison. Then they were "rented out" for picking cotton, building railroads, working in mines. In Georgia, for example, in the period 1870 – 1910. 88% "leased" were negros, in Alabama - 93%. In Mississippi, before 1972, there was a huge plantation that used the labor of prisoners on the basis of a "lease" agreement. And at the beginning of the XXI century, at least 37 states legalized the use of “leased” prisoners by private companies.
American researcher of the problem of "prison slavery" Vicky Pelaez in the article "Prison business in the USA: big business or a new form of slavery?" writes: “The list of these corporations (which“ rent ”prisoners - VK) includes the very cream of the American corporate community: IBM, Boeing, Motorola, Microsoft, AT&T, Wireless, Texas Instrument, Dell, Compaq, Honeywell, Hewlett -Packard, Nortel, Lucent Technologies, 3Com, Intel, Northern Telecom, TWA, Nordstrom's, Revlon, Macy's, Pierre Cardin, Target Stores and many more. All these companies were enthusiastic about the rosy economic outlook that prison labor promised. From 1980 to 1994, profits (from the use of prison labor - VK) increased from $ 392 million to 1 billion 31 million. "
The benefits of such a “collaboration” for private corporations are obvious: they pay “rented” slaves at the minimum wage rates set by the respective state. And in some places and below this norm. For example, in the state of Colorado - about 2 dollars per hour, which is significantly less than the minimum rate.
Prisoners of some southern states of America are in a particularly difficult situation, where, like before the abolition of slavery in the 19th century, they continue to work on the same cotton plantations. Of particular prominence was the maximum security prison in the state of Louisiana called Angola. Prisoners in this prison farm 18 with thousands of acres of land on which cotton, wheat, soybean, and corn are grown. Prisoners in Angola receive for their work only from 4 to 20 cents per hour. Not only that: they leave only half of the money earned, and put the other half on the prisoner's account for payment to him at the time of release. True, units come out of “Angola” (only 3%): the majority of prisoners have long periods, besides, they rush out of life from ruthless exploitation and poor conditions.
There are other similar farm prisons in Louisiana. Total 16% of prisoners in this state are sentenced to agricultural work. In the neighboring states of Texas and Arkansas, the proportion of such prisoners is 17 and 40%, respectively.
The second form of “prison slavery” - private prisons - appeared in the USA in the 1980s under President R. Reagan, and then the privatization of state prisons continued under the presidents George Bush Sr. and Clinton. The first privatization of the state prison in Tennessee took place in February 1983 by venture company Massey Burch Investment.
US prison complex
According to Vika Pelaez, in the United States, 2008 already had 27 private prisons with 100 thousand prisoners in 62 states (for comparison: 10 years before this - 5 private prisons with 2 thousand prisoners). These prisons were operated by 18 private corporations. The largest of them - Correctional Corporation of America (CCA) and Wawkenhat (the new name of this company - G4S); they controlled 75% of all prisoners in private prisons. CCA shares from 1986 began to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2009, its capitalization was estimated at 2,26 billion dollars.
Private prison companies enter into long-term concession agreements with the government for the management of prisons. At the same time, they receive from the state certain funds for each prisoner. The wage of the prisoner is determined by the company itself; the rates are much lower than the sums paid by companies that exploit prisoners on a rental basis (the first form of “prison slavery”). Wage rates in private prisons sometimes equal 17 cents per hour. For the most skilled labor they pay no more than 50 cents. In prisons, in contrast to production companies, there can be no talk of strikes, trade union activities, vacations, and sick leave. In order to “stimulate” the labor activity of “prison slaves”, employers promise to “shorten the term of detention” for “good work”. However, the system of fines is also in effect, which can actually make a life sentence.
The US prison industry is based both on the direct use of prison labor by private capital (its “rent” or direct operation in private prisons) and indirectly. By indirect use is meant that the organization of production is carried out by the prison administration, and the products produced by the prisoners on the basis of the contract are supplied to private companies. The price of such products is usually much lower than the market. It is rather difficult to determine the extent of the indirect use of labor by prisoners by private US companies. There may be a large number of abuses on the basis of collusion of the administration of the state prison and a private company. This type of business is usually referred to as “shadow”.
According to the American press, a "prison industrial complex" began to form on the basis of private prisons. He began to occupy a prominent place in the production of many types of products in the United States. Today, the US prison industry produces 100% of all military helmets, uniform belts and belts, body armor, ID cards, shirts, trousers, tents, backpacks and flasks for the country's army. In addition to military equipment and uniforms, the prison produces 98% of the assembly tool market, 46% of bulletproof vests, 36% of household appliances, 30% of headphones, microphones, megaphones and 21% of office furniture, aviation and medical equipment and much more.
In the Vicky Pelaez article, we read: "The prison industry is one of the fastest growing industries, and its investors are on Wall Street." Referring to another source, the same author writes: “This multimillion-dollar industry has its own trade shows, conventions, websites, online catalogs. She runs direct advertising campaigns, owns design and construction firms, investment funds on Wall Street, building management firms, food supply companies, and she also has armed guards and felt-padded cameras. ”
The profit margin in the US prison industry is very high. In this regard, transnational corporations (TNCs) have declined and even the incentive to transfer their production from the USA to economically backward countries has disappeared. It is even possible that the process can go in the opposite direction. Vicky Pelaez writes: “Thanks to prison labor, the United States once again proved to be an attractive place to invest in labor, which used to be the lot of third world countries. In Mexico, an assembly facility near the border closed down and transferred its operations to St. Quentin Prison (California). In Texas, 150 workers were laid off from the factory and they signed a contract with Lockhart Prison, where electrical circuits are now being assembled for companies such as IBM and Compaq. A member of the Oregon State House recently asked Nike to hurry to move production from Indonesia to Oregon, saying that "here the manufacturer will have no transportation problems, here we will provide competitive prison labor".
Thirst for profit as a growth factor of the American Gulag
American business felt that the use of its own "prison slaves" was a "gold mine." Accordingly, the largest US corporations began to delve into how the contingent of prisoners is formed in American prisons, and do everything possible to ensure that these prisoners are as large as possible. We believe that it was the interests of corporate business that contributed to the fact that the number of prisoners in the United States began to grow rapidly. To quote Vicki Pelaez again: “Private hiring of prisoners provokes a desire to put people in jail. Prisons depend on income. Corporate equity holders who make money on prison labor are lobbying sentences for longer periods to provide themselves with labor. The system feeds itself, ”says a study by the Progressive Labor Party, which considers the prison system“ an imitation of Nazi Germany in terms of forced slave labor and concentration camps. ”
However, even if prisons are state-owned, the use of prisoners' labor is beneficial to the authorities. In state prisons, the rates for prison labor are higher than in private ones. Prisoners receive 2 – 2,5 dollars per hour (not counting overtime pay). However, state prisons are in fact on “cost accounting”: half of the prisoners' earnings are taken from them to pay for the “rent” of the cell and food. Therefore, talk about the fact that state prisons in the US "burden" the country's budget, we need just to justify their transfer to private hands.
Back in 1972, there were less than 300 thousand prisoners in the United States. In the 1990 year - already 1 million. Today, the United States, where there are already more than 2,3 million prisoners, tops the list of countries by the number of people in prison. This is roughly 25% of all those serving sentences in the world (with a US share in the world population of 5%). The 754 number of prisoners in 100 thousand people makes the United States a world leader in terms of the number of prisoners to the total population. According to the American specialized publication "California Prison Focus", in stories humanity has not yet had a society that would keep so many of its members in prison. In the US, more people are imprisoned than in any other country — half a million more than in China, although the population of the PRC is five times larger than in the United States. Soviet GULAG 1930's in scale, it loses much to the American GULAG at the beginning of the 21st century.
If we add Americans to the number of prisoners who are subject to conditional and parole procedures, then it turns out that, in fact, a total of 7,3 million people are covered by the system of punishments, that is, approximately every fortieth resident of the country (and every twentieth adult resident of the United States).
This contingent of "conditional" prisoners is described in great detail by Russian-speaking American Viktor Orel, a former officer of the Nevada Prison Administration. The 5 of millions of Americans who received “sentences” but are outside prisons are those who did not have enough space in existing correctional facilities. According to V. Orel, American prisons are overcrowded - the number of their inhabitants is approximately 200 percent of the norm. For example, according to October 2007, there were 170,6 thousand prisoners in California prisons with a capacity of 83 thousand. In order to give the opportunity to convicts sentenced to "terms" to the Americans, they have to release those who are already in the cell . Not always such a “liberalism” is justified, since those released to commit again commit crimes (such, according to V. Orel, among those released are 95%). The reasons for such recidivism are partly in the people themselves who are released, but the main reason is a socio-economic nature. Employers do not want to hire a former prisoner, and the latter, in order to earn a living, returns to his former path. Among those who are outside prisons there is a large category of so-called domestic prisoners. These are those who are under house arrest, awaiting the released bed in prison.
Here is how V. Oryol describes these “domestic prisoners”: “A separate category included in the above mentioned figure (5 of millions of convicted Americans outside prison walls - V.K.) are prisoners who“ imprison ”houses waiting for places in the present the prison. What is written below is not fiction or fiction, but the reality of contemporary American life. In the home "confinement" they are held by an electronic bracelet, worn on the ankle. The sensor on the bracelet is connected directly to the remote control in the municipal police department. If “ringed” has moved more than 150 feet (30 meters) from his home, the electronic device sends an alarm signal to the console. This amounts to an escape attempt and a prisoner can add a prison sentence. Exactly the same thing happens if the “prisoner” at home tries to remove the bracelet. The waiting period of a place in prison is not included in the general term of punishment. The very same waiting period is not defined. But in fact, for one bed released in prison there are two domestic prisoners waiting in line. ”
Future plans for US prison corporations
Corporate lobbyists ensure that any violation of the law is punishable by imprisonment. An analysis of American legislation shows significant "progress" in the relocation of American citizens from their homes and apartments to prison cells. Including they seek the abolition of "conditional and parole." Lobbyists ensure that people are sentenced to imprisonment for non-violent crimes and receive long prison sentences for storing microscopic quantities of prohibited substances. Federal law provides for a five-year term without the right to parole for storing 5 grams of crack or 3,5 ounces of heroin (1 ounce = 28,35 g) or 10 years for storing less than 2 ounces of cocaine or crack. For 500 grams of pure cocaine, the same law provides only a five-year term. Most of those who use pure cocaine are either rich or middle-class whites. Blacks and Hispanics use raw cocaine. In Texas, a person can be sentenced to more than two years in prison for 4 ounces of marijuana. In New York State, the 1973 anti-drug law of the year provides for 15 years in prison to life for 4 ounces of any prohibited substance. According to V. Oryol, 57% of prisoners in US prisons sit for drug use. In their crimes, not only is there no violence, but they themselves often become victims of violence. At one time, President Clinton rightly stated that those who use drugs should not be punished, but treated. However, these words remained words. The US authorities, along with business, are interested in distributing drugs in the country, as this is a very effective way to increase the number of “prison slaves”.
Lobbyists of corporations have also succeeded in adopting the “Three Crimes” laws in 13 states, which provide a life sentence for any three crimes (not even related to violence). Publications appeared in the American press saying that the adoption of only these laws would require the construction of 20 federal prisons.
Another area of corporate lobbying is the maximum lengthening of prison sentences. For this, various amendments are made to the laws. Including those that allow you to lengthen the time spent in prison for any, even minor misconduct of the prisoner. Private prison companies sometimes impose “fines” in the form of lengthening sentences. Thus, in the private company SSA mentioned above, for any violation of prisoners, 30 days are added. A study in prisons in New Mexico found that federal prisoners receive eight times more early exemptions for “good behavior” than prisoners in SSA.
Corporations seek to increase the resources of an almost free labor force in private prisons through their influence on court decisions. The history of Pennsylvania had a wide resonance in 2008. Then it became known that two judges for bribes received from the owners of two private prisons for juvenile delinquents, sentenced the convicted persons to the most stringent sentences in order to guarantee the filling of these two prisons with free labor. The total amount of bribes was 2,6 million.
In order for people who have received “terms” to turn from a potential resource of slave force into a real one, it is necessary to place them all in prisons, which are sorely lacking. In recent years, a public-private partnership has been actively used in the US prison and industrial complex - the equal participation of federal, state and business authorities in the financing of capital investments in the expansion of the US GULAG. These investments are now more effective than, for example, investments in the development of "high" technologies.
Judge for yourself: according to V. Orl, the state invests in the country's prison system (a total of five thousand federal and state prisons) annually 60 billion dollars, while earning a profit of 300%.
The author of the book "The Closed World of America" writes: "It is terrible to think that today the United States considers the prison industry as the potential of a future ideal state, where a society of prisoners for pennies creates benefits for a handful of the haves of this world."
However, while the “potential of the future ideal state” is far from being used at full capacity. According to the latest data, there are 220 thousands of prisoners in private commercial prisons. In relation to the total number of people in US prisons, this is not very much: around 10%. In relation to the number of all sentenced to prison - about 3%. At the same time, apparently, not less number of prisoners of state prisons is leased to private capital. There is also an indirect use of the labor of prisoners in state prisons, when the latter enter into (secretly) contracts for the manufacture of certain goods with the help of the labor of prisoners. Still, this business is not enough.
Therefore, private capital directs the main efforts not even to increase the number of prisoners, but to ensure that all of them are under the control of “prison” corporations as quickly as possible.
American experience of "prison slavery" in other countries
The American example of using prison labor in the interests of private capital has turned out to be “contagious”. Private prisons also appeared in a number of other countries: Great Britain, Sweden, Estonia, Australia, Brazil. For example, in the last of these countries, private owners run 17 prisons, which contain 2% of all prisoners. In the UK, the first private prison on 400 seats was opened in 1992 in the Yorkshire county by the security company G4S. Soon this corporation became the leader of the prison business in the UK. In 2002, she acquired the American prison corporation Wackenhut, obtaining the 25% of the US private prison business market. The next private prison corporation in the UK is Serco. Shares of both companies were quoted on the London Stock Exchange. At the end of May 4, the capitalization of these companies was equal to 2010 billion and 3,67 billion pounds, respectively.
In Israel, a law was passed in 2004 allowing for the creation of private prisons. Israeli billionaire Lev Levaev, together with the American prison corporation Emerald, began construction of a private prison on 2007 in 800, the construction cost $ 360 million. Opponents of the 2004 law of the year filed a protest in the Israeli Supreme Court. In November 2009, the court ruled that the country's prison system cannot be based on private economic interests. Thus, the project of the first private prison in Israel was “frozen”.
The first pilot projects appear in other countries. In Japan, in May 2007, the first new prison opened in 50 years, which immediately acquired the status of "private". It is designed for 1000 people convicted of minor crimes. In Estonia, where there is the highest percentage of prisoners in Europe (relative to the total population - 0,34), there are two private prisons. In Latvia several years ago, the Ministry of Justice considered the possibility of building private prisons as one of the ways to bring the country out of crisis. Similar projects are also discussed in Lithuania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. We are witnessing the emergence of "prison capitalism" on a global scale.
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