Profits for Private Jailers
Source: By DAN BURROWS, Wall Street Journal (subscription required), May 27, 2007
The prison business looks ready to stage a breakout. Tougher mandatory sentences were already straining the nation's jails. Now, the Department of Homeland Security's Border Initiative and its detention of undocumented immigrants has further burdened the system. Federal prisons already have 33% more inmates than they were designed to house and state prisons are similarly overcrowded.
The upshot? A severe shortage of prison space -- and a robust outlook for the three biggest private jailers.