"Crime Pays: A Look At Who's Getting Rich From The Prison Boom"
I'd also like to hear: "A Look At Who's Getting Rich From Consolidating Our Schools"
These pieces should be aired on every station in the country.
You will recall that a while back something went wrong during an execution. The skull cap or something slipped so that instead of killing the prisoner, he was only partially fried. There was a great outcry at the time. Opponents of the death penalty said that the state should be held accountable for these cruel half-executions.
It won't be long before the state will sidestep the many nasty problems encountered during executions --- they will be privatized.
In this well researched and executed documentary, one goes on a journey into a troubling side of the American prison system, where profit is the motive and private prisons is a growth industry. I listened fascinated and slightly horrified at this fact rich story of an industry that seems boundless in it?s opportunities, yet relies on the incarceration of one?s fellow countrymen in huge numbers in order to sustain itself.
In the interest of full disclosure, I worked with this program?s producer Jo Ann Mar for many years at KALW in San Francisco, so the meticulously gathered facts and wide range of coverage of ?Crime Pays? comes as no surprise. Mar is thorough and focused in anything she puts her mind to. It shows here in this deeply engrossing hour, very worthy of the prestigious George Polk award it has garnered.
You can reward your listeners with an hour of great investigative journalism that is getting scarce on public radio these days.
The title of this piece will give you a sense of the point of view of this documentary. Grassroots Leadership, an activist group that has started campaigns against privatized prisons, is extensively quoted, and is thanked at the end. But this hour long documentary did cover the "other side" to an extent that I did feel comfortable that the questions were asked. Sound from various prisons across the southwest are mixed with music-- and while I felt the music sometimes was over the top, I was interested to hear from prison officials, former prisoners, health officials and people from communities that have privately run prisons and who appreciate the jobs they brought in. The program provides a pretty thorough explanation about why privatizing prisons is not so good--why outsourcing can cause more problems and ultimately costs the government more than if they had just run the prisons themselves. And the phenomenon is not about to disappear. In fact, prisons are privatizing more and more low security, immigrant detention centers today than they ever have before. Air this documentary to start a conversation about the issue of privatization, in general, and about incarceration methods specifically.
Comments for Crime Pays: A Look At Who's Getting Rich From The Prison Boom
Produced by JoAnn Mar
Other pieces by JoAnn Mar
Rating Summary
3 comments
The humble Farmer
Posted on August 31, 2008 at 02:55 AM | Permalink
Review of Crime Pays: A Look At Who's Getting Rich From The Prison Boom
"Crime Pays: A Look At Who's Getting Rich From The Prison Boom"
I'd also like to hear: "A Look At Who's Getting Rich From Consolidating Our Schools"
These pieces should be aired on every station in the country.
You will recall that a while back something went wrong during an execution. The skull cap or something slipped so that instead of killing the prisoner, he was only partially fried. There was a great outcry at the time. Opponents of the death penalty said that the state should be held accountable for these cruel half-executions.
It won't be long before the state will sidestep the many nasty problems encountered during executions --- they will be privatized.
The humble Farmer, St. George, Maine
Michael Johnson
Posted on March 29, 2006 at 09:34 PM | Permalink
Review of Crime Pays: A Look At Who's Getting Rich From The Prison Boom
In this well researched and executed documentary, one goes on a journey into a troubling side of the American prison system, where profit is the motive and private prisons is a growth industry. I listened fascinated and slightly horrified at this fact rich story of an industry that seems boundless in it?s opportunities, yet relies on the incarceration of one?s fellow countrymen in huge numbers in order to sustain itself.
In the interest of full disclosure, I worked with this program?s producer Jo Ann Mar for many years at KALW in San Francisco, so the meticulously gathered facts and wide range of coverage of ?Crime Pays? comes as no surprise. Mar is thorough and focused in anything she puts her mind to. It shows here in this deeply engrossing hour, very worthy of the prestigious George Polk award it has garnered.
You can reward your listeners with an hour of great investigative journalism that is getting scarce on public radio these days.
Sarah Elzas
Posted on October 24, 2005 at 12:25 PM | Permalink
Review of Crime Pays: A Look At Who's Getting Rich From The Prison Boom
The title of this piece will give you a sense of the point of view of this documentary. Grassroots Leadership, an activist group that has started campaigns against privatized prisons, is extensively quoted, and is thanked at the end. But this hour long documentary did cover the "other side" to an extent that I did feel comfortable that the questions were asked. Sound from various prisons across the southwest are mixed with music-- and while I felt the music sometimes was over the top, I was interested to hear from prison officials, former prisoners, health officials and people from communities that have privately run prisons and who appreciate the jobs they brought in. The program provides a pretty thorough explanation about why privatizing prisons is not so good--why outsourcing can cause more problems and ultimately costs the government more than if they had just run the prisons themselves. And the phenomenon is not about to disappear. In fact, prisons are privatizing more and more low security, immigrant detention centers today than they ever have before. Air this documentary to start a conversation about the issue of privatization, in general, and about incarceration methods specifically.