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Comment by jacobreg | Hacker News Reader

In general I agree with you that prison industrial complex is a huge problem in this country. However, in this case it sounds like they can already afford to be somewhat selective with which inmates they choose, so I'm not too worried they'll jail people so they can get cheap firefighters anytime soon.

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> I'm not too worried they'll jail people so they can get cheap firefighters anytime soon.

You do know that the private prison system is literally leaning on state governments and threatening them with breach of contract for not keeping prisons full, right?

... and that not only does the US have the highest per capita incarcaration rate of any country in the world, but California has an even higher per capity incarcaration rate?

... and that many US corporations have business models which rely on prison labor?

People I know closely who work in non-profit prison policy reform do not feel this way. They see private prisons as a problem, but nearly as big of a one as you make it out to be. And they're quite supportive of initiatives such as the firefighter program for prisoners.

> You do know that the private prison system is literally leaning on state governments and threatening them with breach of contract for not keeping prisons full, right?

Assuming you are correct, I retract any sympathy my other comment displayed toward these kind of work programs.

I don't know if this counts as a reputable source, but here's a related story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/19/private-prison-quot...

Cursory DuckDuckGoing yields many more.

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