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Not only that, They actively lobby Congress to keep up the War on Drugs.

Their argument is pure economical -- "If you tone down the War on Drugs then we will lose profits". Nothing to hide there plain and simple.

Or that case in PA when the local judge was funneling kids to the local prison/"treatment" center.

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A perverse and scary outlook they might possibly have: keep prison conditions in a way so that you continue to see high recidivism rates. Because if the prisoners keep coming back, that means you have easy repeat business.

There is of course concrete evidence to the contrary, as experiments in Scandinavian countries show. Treat prisoners with respect, give them a dignified place of living so they can think about what they did, and you'll find that actually both improves their mental condition and makes them very well suited to rejoin society.

I would not be surprised in the least if they are A/B testing which prisoners return. The whole system of for-profit prisons is perverse.

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