This is Today in America’s Prisons

There are approximately 2.2 million inmates in American state and local prisons. That is nearly 1% of the total American population. More than two thirds of the United States’ prisons face serious overcrowding problems, and many are operating at least 50 percent over capacity. Over 41 states, including California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Texas are under court order to relieve the overcrowding. Different states approach prison overcrowding differently, but many choose to release inmates en masse. Governor Jerry Brown (D-CA), for example, released over 1400 inmates sentenced to life starting in 2011.

The number of prisons in the U.S. more than tripled between 1970 and 2000, from 511 to nearly 1663. Prisons constructed during that time cover nearly 600 square miles, an area larger than New York City. More than 80 percent of these facilities are operated by states, approximately 10 percent are federal facilities and the rest are private. This prison boom impacted rural America most, where 70 percent of prisons were built in rural communities.

Over half of the United States passed legislation permitting the privatization of prisons in 1988. Historically, state correction agencies used the private sector to manage minimum-secure or non-secure “community” correction centers, such as juvenile institutions and halfway houses only. However, as states balance their budgets, the low cost of private prisons make a compelling pecuniary argument.

In today’s inflationary environment, the privatization of prisons beckons. The biggest private prison owner in America, The Corrections Corporations of America, has seen its profits increase by more than 500% in the past 20 years. The private prison business’ growth shows no sign of stopping, with lobbyists having already approached 48 states to take over government-run prisons. While the national average cost to hold a prisoner in a government run prison is $40 per inmate a day, privately run prisons can charge the government significantly lower fees. U.S. Corrections Corporation, which operates the Marion Adjustment Center in St. Mary, Kentucky, charges Kentucky a daily fee of $25 per inmate. In 1986, this private firm saved Kentucky an estimated $400,000. The savings don’t last across the board, however. In 2013, the three largest for-profit prison corporations spent more than $45 million on campaign donations and lobbyists to keep politicians on the side of privatized incarceration.

How do private prisons cut costs? Reducing food quantity and quality, according to one Mississippi researcher who discovered prisoners dropped anywhere from 10 to 60 pounds in privately run prisons. In a two-year investigation conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union (“ACLU”) and the Michigan House of Representatives, prison vendor Aramark was found to have served food tainted by maggots, rotten meat, food thrown in the garbage, rat impacted food and moldy food in Michigan jails. Aramark costs states $145 million for three-year contracts to prisons. The average prison meal costs anywhere from 56-cents to $3.

Substandard ingredients are also a problem, with most food being over-processed. D.C. jails routinely serve bologna and nothing else. Inmates across America beg their family and friends for commissary to purchase decent food. Portions served in prisons are also small, leading to further health issues for inmates in crowded, stressful living conditions. Ohio cited Aramark 240 times for not providing inmates enough food. The nutrient deficiency can cause confusion and difficulty concentrating short-term. The mental impact from hunger can be devastating to inmates who have to speak to their legal counsel and judges coherently and with enough detail about their cases.

Penitentiaries are allowed to serve whatever food they can since there are no strict federal guidelines, just general rules around inmates’ diets. These “rules” include nothing about adequate calories or nutritional value prisoners must receive. Little federal regulation makes inmates susceptible to diabetes and high-blood pressure, on top of the existing hygienic and mental healthcare lack.

Among the January 6th defendants, inmate Christopher Quaglin has been denied a diet to accommodate his medical condition, Celiac’s disease. Celiac’s disease is a chronic immune disorder triggered by gluten (found in bread and other starches) consumption. Quaglin has managed this medical condition independently since he was diagnosed at age ten. The lack of food understanding and security in prison impacted Quaglin severely. He lost weight and his body erupted with blisters. The food provided by the jail regularly contained wheat, despite Quaglin’s and his attorney’s written and vocal instruction about Celiac’s disease diets. The lack of care caused tensions to rise in the jail and Quaglin was viciously attacked by another inmate. Quaglin said he feared he “may die here” in D.C. jail.

When inmates speak up about their conditions, prisons are quick to enforce telephonic rules. Prisons consider phone calls to be a privilege, and so can curb telephonic access at any time. Before the 1980s, prisoners in federal facilities were commonly only allowed one personal phone call every three months. Today, phone calls may be restricted to a time length and phone calls usually cannot be made in succession. An exception is phone calls to an attorney. However, different prisons impose different conditions on telephonic lockdown. For example, some Texan prisons do not permit phone calls to inmates on treatment or work programs. In Utah however, 15-minute phone calls are regularly permitted. Federal courts have commonly cited the fact that, even when prisons deny phone privileges, the inmates are often still free to receive visits from people or send and receive letters, so their ability to communicate is not unreasonably restricted. In this way, federal courts allege that they are upholding the First Amendment Freedom of Speech for inmates. However, prison mail can be unduly delayed or confiscated without redress.

Prison mail can be unduly delayed or confiscated without redress. In 2021, dozens of prisoners complained that they were never receiving their original mail and just photocopies. Dozens of the Bureau of Prison’s facilities have adopted practices of scanning mail and keeping the original in an effort to stop drugs from entering the facilities by being sprayed on mail. According to the Arizona State University, there is little evidence to support this claim and reports suggest that corrections officers are the main source of illegal drugs in prisons. Photocopies can be poorly done or blurry with pages missing, leaving inmates without a proper communication channel to the outside.

Mental health services are also limited as they are seen as non-essential to the prisoners. The lack of mental healthcare is especially problematic since a 2006 report from the U.S. Department of Justice found that about 56 percent of state prisoners, 45 percent of federal prisoners and 64 percent of jail inmates had a mental health problem. If left untreated, mental health breaks can lead to actions causing incarceration. Additionally, a 2016 report by Princeton University pointed to lack of meaningful work as a driver for American inmates to lapse into mental health breaks. Forced solitude was also a named factor as was intra jail violence and lack of sufficient mental health services.

Keeping inmates active is an important component to their overall health. According to a 2017 survey by the Prison Policy Initiative (PPI), of the more than 2.2 million people incarcerated in state and federal prisons and local jails across the United States, 61 percent are employed in some way. Many of the items produced by the Federal Prison Industries workforce (“UNICOR”) are purchased by the federal government, including the U.S. military. The federal Bureau of Prisons generated over $502.8 million in sales in fiscal year 2018. Since 2011, Congress also allowed the prison industry program to produce and sell millions of dollars’ worth of prisoner-manufactured goods to private companies.

Different private companies approach this labor force differently. In California, The Last Mile, a San Francisco-based nonprofit, is focused on curbing recidivism. The program allows inmate students to learn computer coding, helping them prepare for a 21st century workforce. Many prison graduates feel hopeful for the future by having the skills to code.

Large companies such as Victoria’s Secret, Wal-Mart and Whole Foods use prison labor in employment such as call centers. The federal Bureau of Prisons recognized the talent in their prisons and retooled employment programs via the Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP). PIECP permits prisoners to earn at least minimum wage for work done for large companies. Part of the prisoners’ pay is seized to cover incarceration costs, along with any alimony, child support or court-ordered restitution they owe. Some is also placed in a savings account for prisoners’ use upon release.

A study conducted in the 1990s and early 2000s by the National Institute of Justice found that PIECP participants were twice as likely as other UNICOR-employed prisoners to find and hold steady employment upon release. As of 2017, however, just two UNICOR factories were participating in PIECP. So, despite demonstrated success, the federal Bureau of Prisons and privately run prisons choose not to enroll in such a work program.