Negative Essay On Prisons

Prisons that are privately funded by corporations in the United States, are only beneficial to the corporations who fund them. Prisons for profit had begun as a way to maintain labor in America and is now a 70-billion-dollar industry. However, not only is the money not going towards its promised use, but the companies benefit from the inefficiency of the system. In fact, it is more dangerous for everyone involved, including civilians who’ve never been to jail (Black “Companies Who Get Rich Off Prisoners”).

The rise of the system in the 1800s had promised the state government that privately owned prisons would cost less than state owned prisons. This is one of the main reasons state prisons had begun to allow for private corporations to exploit

Most commonly, victims of this act were African Americans. For example, while only make up a small percentage of prisoners, African American women are three times more likely than Latina women and six times more likely than White women to be incarcerated. Also, statistically, one in three African American men will be incarcerated in their lifetime. However, seeing as many Americans, particularly white Americans, even those who claim to not be racist, have a Just World perspective. Meaning, that they assume the world is fair and just, and in this case, the people who are in jail have put themselves there. However, the simplest way to debunk this belief is by facing the United States’ history. A country built upon the backs of slaves at the will of White, property owning males. A country whose economy that, even now, relies on Capitalism. The original system of America’s Capitalism, in fact, relied on slave labor for producing and harvesting product. Following the Emancipation Proclamation, America aimed to find a way to still maintain labor and produce income. Prison was, and still is, considered a socially acceptable way to do so. Civil rights activists have stated high incarnation rates are the newest form of oppressive