Southern Highland Reader

NATIONAL–A south Texas grand jury has returned multiple-count indictments against vice president Dick Cheney, former attorney General Alberto Gonzales and many others for alleged organized crime involving relations with companies that build federal prisoners and manage them under private contract.

While the District Attorney who brought the charges is a lame duck and (apparently) a bit of showboat, the underlying facts of the case are food for thought.

The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate and prison population in the world, due largely to sentencing structures and drug laws.

Mr. Cheney and Mr. Gonzales, whose regard for constitutional law has been questioned during their respective stints in Washington, are personally invested in the privatization of the prison system, and so could stand to profit from an ever-increasing criminal population.

While the privatization of prisons and the subsequent introduction of a “profit motive” to the criminal justice system has always struck me as a particularly boneheaded idea, rarely are examples of just why it’s such a bad idea made so clear.