One strategy has been to connect and work with rural activists to oppose prison construction in their hometowns. In Corcoran, CA, for example, fewer than 8 percent of new prison employees live in town. The only people who make money in real estate from a new prison are the ones who sell the land for the prison. Real estate values and rents for homes go up initially, but only until the prison is built. Values then drop back to pre-prison levels because the anticipated economic benefits never materialize.
Renters tend to come out much worse because rents tend to stay at the new higher levels.
A few people in town get rich because of the prison, but many more get poorer. In Corcoran today, the population of the town is roughly the same as before the prison was built, but the number of people with incomes below the poverty line has doubled. The prison industry is big business, one of the two fastest-growing industries in the nation. Corporations are receiving a growing proportion of tax dollars to operate private prisons while taking advantage of the cheap labor. Investment broker Smith Barney is part owner of a prison in Florida.