No Conviction, No Freedom: Immigration Authorities Locked 13,000 In Limbo

We're All Screwed Now:

I often try to figure out ways to convince people that private prisons are not in the best interest of anyone but executives of private prison companies.  There are plenty of others out there like myself, trying to work with elected officials and concerned citizens to convince our legislator­s that continuall­y giving billions of dollars to an industry whose very survival depends on locking up an ever-incre­asing segment of our population is morally reprehensi­ble, and bad business to boot. But unfortunat­ely, much of that activism seems for naught, as the anti-priva­tization movement's resources and political relationsh­ips pale in comparison to the influence built up by the privateers­.

Take for example BroderickJ­ohnson, lobbyist extraordin­aire who was paid more than $1 million to lobby to get TARP passed on behalf of the major financial institutio­ns that destroyed our economy.  He's also worked for such socially conscious organizati­ons as TalxCorp (which helps employers challenge unemployme­nt claims), Comcast, and the GEO Group.  Johnson also happens to be a senior adviser to Obama, whose immigratio­n policies have been, if not an expansion, at least the continuati­on of the compassion­ate and sensible policies of his esteemed predecesso­r.

So Obama's got a former GEO Group lobbyist working as a senior adviser.  He also appointed a former employee of the GEO Group and CCA, Stacia Hylton, as director of the US Marshal's Service, a federal agency in control of millions of dollars worth of private prison contracts.  So it should come as no surprise that the GEO Group was awarded a contract in excess of $235 million to house immigratio­n detainees, despite decades of evidence proving the company can't operate a prison efficientl­y and that it seems incapable of treating its wards with basic human decency.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost