Thom Hartmann: Privatized Prisons...Criminal in a Democracy (explains ALEC's involvement)

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Hartmann-Privatized-Priso-by-Thom-Hartmann-110908-155.html



Emphasis added.

See the long compilation topic on the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) for more information on this legislation and other harmful legislation from this group.

They are using prison labor paying inmates pennies a day to manufacture and are clearly making millions..I guess we could call it outsourcing with-in....

Ohio first for privatizing prisons
Dayton Business Journal
Date: Friday, September 2, 2011, 7:00am

Ohio is about to become the first state in the country to privatize a prison, with the planned sale of the Lake Erie Correctional Institution in Ashtabula County, according to the Toledo Blade.
Corrections Corporation of America will pay more than $70 million for the prison, making it the only one of five originally put up for sale by the state to be sold. The others did not have deals that could be worked out to make it beneficial for taxpayers if they were sold, according to the Blade.

http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/blog/morning_call/2011/09/ohio-first-for-privatizing-prisons.html


Kasich considers selling 5 prisons, newspaper says
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 11:27 AM


Associated Press

DAYTON -- A newspaper reports that Gov. John Kasich is considering selling five prisons to private operators as part of the two-year budget he'll release next week.

The Dayton Daily News reports it has obtained Ohio department proposals also indicating the state could cut funding for child care, food banks and drug courts, and shut down regional taxpayer service centers.

-snip
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/03/09/kasich-might-sell-five-prisons-dayton-newspaper-reports.html?sid=101




NOTE WHO KASICH CHOSE TO HEAD THE OHIO DEPT OF REHABILITATION & CORRECTIONS:



Kasich announced Gary Mohr as his pick to head the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

-snip

Mohr is a managing director at the Corrections Corporation of America, which designs, builds, manages and operates federal, state and local prisons across the country.

http://www.vindy.com/news/2011/jan/04/kasich-picks-new-ohio-prison-chief/




No wonder Kasich is so gungho on selling off prisons: $.23 per hour! Are these the jobs Kasich is planning for Ohio?



U.S. Prisoners Build Missile Parts for Raytheon and Lockheed to Sell Abroad
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Inmates in American prisons have come a long way from the days of making license plates. Nowadays, prisoners are helping build missiles and other sophisticated weapons, and providing dirt-cheap labor in the process.

While earning as little as 23 cents an hour—and no more than $1.15—inmates assemble electronic components for the Patriot missile, which has been used by the U.S. military and sold to allies like Israel, Egypt, Kuwait and Taiwan . The use of prisoners employed by Unicor, a government-owned corporation formerly known as the Federal Prison Industries, saves the makers of the Patriot, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, a lot of money on labor costs.

Unicor inmates also have contributed work to the building of the McDonnell Douglas/Boeing F-15 fighter, the General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin F-16, Bell/Textron’s Cobra helicopter and BAE Systems’ Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

Prisoners used to make helmets for the military, until 44,000 of them had to be recalled for shoddy quality.

Although Unicor is pitched as a job training program for prisoners, it has some observers worried. William Hartung, author of Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex, told Justin Rohrlich of Minyanville, “It’s really on the cutting-edge of questionable practices. The fact that it does an end-run around organized labor is a problem. There’s no greater restriction on a worker’s rights than being stuck in prison.”
-Noel Brinkerhoff
http://www.allgov.com/Top_Stories/ViewNews/US_Prisoners_Build_Missile_Parts_for_Raytheon_and_Lockheed_to_Sell_Abroad_110310




NEXT POST
Prisoners Help Build Patriot Missiles
By Noah Shachtman March 8, 2011 | 12:24 pm |
This spring, the United Arab Emirates is expected to close a deal for $7 billion dollars’ worth of American arms. Nearly half of the cash will be spent on Patriot missiles, which cost as much as $5.9 million apiece.

But what makes those eye-popping sums even more shocking is that some of the workers manufacturing parts for those Patriot missiles are prisoners, earning as little as 23 cents an hour. (CreditJustin Rohrlich with the catch.)

The work is done by Unicor, previously known as Federal Prison Industries. It’s a government-owned corporation, established during the Depression, that employs about 20,000 inmates in 70 prisons to make everything from clothing to office furniture to solar panels to military electronics.

-snip
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/03/prisoners-help-build-patriot-missiles/