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# The Economics of Detention: How Much are You Willing to Pay to Keep This Guy Behind Barbed wire?
June 23 2014
Written by Donald Cohen.
[](https://www.addtoany.com/share)
ANALYSIS-The U.S. prison population has grown more than 700 percent between 1970 and 2009. We’re locking people up left and right, including thousands of non-violent immigrants whose only crime is crossing the border without documentation. They are now trapped in private prisons with no voice.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has just released the [jaw-dropping findings of its investigation ](https://www.aclu.org/warehoused-and-forgotten-immigrants-trapped-our-shadow-private-prison-system%20%20)into the shadowy system of privately run Criminal Alien Requirement (CAR) prisons used to hold immigrants. Here, thousands of immigrants serve lengthy prison sentences where they are exposed to abysmal conditions.
Private prisons have a lot to gain from the incarceration of immigrants. Their business model revolves around imprisoning people for profits, siphoning tax dollars away from public goods and into shareholders’ pockets. For locked-up immigrants, however, it means being isolated from family and the outside world.
Until ACLU’s blockbuster investigation, CAR facilities have operated in the shadows, effectively free from public scrutiny. See the report and other materials summarizing ACLU’s findings online at: [www.aclu.org/CARabuse](http://www.aclu.org/CARabuse%20).
*(Donald Cohen is the founder and executive director of In the Public Interest, a national resource and policy center focusing on privatization and responsible contracting. This analysis originated at [CapitalandMain.com)](http://CapitalandMain.com) \[*
*-cw*
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 51
Pub: June 24, 2014
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