Prisons, unlike many industries, don't use chemicals, they don't make a lot of noise on the outside, they don't pour pollutants into the atmosphere and they thrive when the economy is weak. Prison companies use people as their raw material. The industry grows richer as it ensnares more people. In the transfer of responsibility for incarceration to corporate entities, we have done something remarkable in America. It was a natural step for Congress to make crimes out of acts that are not really crimes at all and make drug laws that shouldn't be laws.
Crime is now the hottest economic investment around.
It's so hot that children are ordered to their knees to pray for prisons. I remember a time when praying for prisoners had an entire different meaning than it does today. Not really, but no one is sure. But, a little goes a long way in a huge expenditure, and prisons are just that. What private prisons do is cut.