America’s incarceration rate is in decline

this is great news. but...

i fear the new avenues of business sought by companies that operate for-profit prisons - i don't expect they'll just eat the losses of declining populations in their main moneymakers, and we're already starting to see them work on detention facilities for DHS etc.

Detention facilities for deportations is an inherently fast shrinking population.

> i don't expect they'll just eat the losses of declining populations in their main moneymakers

Most of them (probably all) have contracts that stipulate they get paid per bed they provide, whether or not it's occupied.

sure, but if the beds are empty, they're less likely to get new contracts.

at some point, maybe. i have no trust in DHS whatsoever.

But do you think they'd start letting more people into the country, just to charge to detain and deport them? It's actually sort of an ideal solution. Big business gets back labor that it can threaten to deport if it demands anything, then they can clean up on the public-private deportations. Factory managers could send ICE a list of their most annoying employees to visit. It would be so 80's, I almost typed "the INS."

what you're describing is more or less already happening. don't think h1b visaholders won't become a target.

You think if an H1B is canceled that they would illegally overstay?

Just get a few more Ciavarellas[0] elected and boom! Kids for Cash 2.0 - Little Timmy will never mouth off in class ever again.

0: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Ciavarella

Prisons are ancient history. The latest chapter is the tough on crime states have glorious high speed pursuits. All those Challengers blasting away at 140 mph in the breakdown lane, rollover 10-50 pits, suspects at gunpoint, now published in 1080 on YouTube for some state and county agencies. A single pursuit may result in two or three disabled police vehicles that need to be replaced. A prepped vehicle is over $100k. In 2024 Arkansas had 500+ high speed pursuits, resulting in three suspect deaths and three civilian deaths. Additionally, nine civilians, 14 troopers, and 83 suspects were injured. and easily over 1,000 vehicles trashed.

Each of these videos puts most film car chases to shame. There must be 20 channels dedicated to this. Participating states I've seen are mostly Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, and California. But any agency can publish a video, particularly if there is a shooting death and an official investigation.