Private prisons have eluded scrutiny, yet earn over $3,300,000,000 in annual revenue while doubling the federal prison population from 2000 to 2010.

Lobbyists have relationships with politicians and build networks that allow laws to be changed for private gain at public cost. Taxpayers have to fund imprisonment, but companies increasingly administer it and profit handsomely from the arrangement. To maximize gains to shareholders, more people must be arrested and imprisoned, so lobbyists often lobby for more laws, increased penalties — especially mandatory requirements that override a judge’s common sense.

More at Washington Post