Prisons + Profit = SB1070?

A recent story by National Public Radio details the origins of Arizona's controversial Senate Bill 1070 ("SB 1070"). According to the report, a company called Corrections Corporation of America sent executives to a meeting with Arizona state Senator Russell Pearce. Corrections Corporation of America reports reveal that the Corrections Corporation of America is aggressively pursuing the immigrant detention market and expecting a significant portion of its revenue from contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

At their meeting, the company executives and Senator Pearce discussed created a model for the bill that would months later become the finalized version of SB 1070. The NPR story reports that the sponsors of the legislation soon began to receive significant campaign donations from the same private prison corporations that had been pushing the bill.

In sum, the same corporations that will profit enormously from the increased "civil" detention of immigrants pushed and helped formulate the policy to increase instances of such detention in Arizona. This may be a good way to increase corporate profits but it sure is a vulgar way to make public policy.

Read the NPR piece here.

Bookmark this post with:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•