Predator Nation: America’s Feeding of an Insatiable Private Prison Industry

Crimes of the Century Radio

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For their October 24, 2013 broadcast, your “Crimes of the Century” co-hosts talk with Dr. Paul Leighton from the Department of Sociology, Anthropology & Criminology at Eastern Michigan University as he describes the dynamics of private prisons in America. The for-profit business model of this industry threatens to turn the U.S. into a predator nation, steadily feeding inmates to wealthy corporate interests and everyone looking to these private prison fat cats for income and/or profit.
And who is the prey for the predator known as America’s private prison industrial complex? Answer: the poor; the poorly educated; minorities; any and everyone caught up by America’s criminal justice system without enough money or clout to wiggle free.
Do those most likely to be unfairly snared by America’s prison industrial complex have much of a chance to avoid or loosen its grip? Unless they find the resolve within themselves to help resist the corresponding forces of injustice, their prospects look grim according to Dr. Leighton and your COC co-hosts.