Minnesota’s ‘Shadow Prison’ for Sex Offenders
The Minnesota Sex Offender Program originally established the civil detention program for those individuals convicted of a crime and diagnosed with a psychopathic personality. It did not take long, though, for the program to shift to those convicted of a sexual offense. What was initially called a civil commitment center has now become an expansion of Minnesota’s state prisons.
For the first twenty years, no prisoner ever received a conditional release, with Minnesota having the highest per-capita civil commitment population in the U. S. Since then, there has only been a small number of individuals who have been released. Minnesota civil commitment prisoners and their loved ones have formed Voices of OCEAN to coordinate protests and awareness campaigns.
As a person who has sent much research to journalists and media sites, I can understand when Derek Logue states, “The mainstream media seems only interested in the shock value of the protests.” If it is not a “hot” story that sells, then the media is not interested, with the media giving little coverage to the travesty that is occurring at civil commitment centers.
A 2011 evaluation from the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor found the civil commitment program to be costly and ineffective. One of the auditor’s recommendations: provide actual treatment. So, the commitment centers do not provide treatment, proving the point made by many individuals that these centers are nothing more than prisons. The states of Minnesota, Florida, and others are unconstitutionally extending prison time beyond what was in the sentences.
It’s sickening to know that this is the new America.
I just watched a documentary on how prison systems are becoming privatized/corporations and making money on beds filled. How they actually make money is beyond me but that’s what I gathered. The documentary was on dish network on ch. 249, the show was called “The Big House”. In some sense this is a new form of slavery except that in most cases the inmates do not perform hard labor for a cheap work force. However, bodies in beds create some kind of revenue.
According to invesropedia.com, these facilities enter into a contract with government, wether state or federal I am unsure. At $150.00 per day, given the length of time of incarceration, that’s a lot of money.
I just found the investopedia link you was referring to and it makes a lot of sense in the business aspect of keeping bed full and keep a returning population in rotation. After reading this article, it’s almost ironic that America refers to itself as the land of the “Free”. If the incarcerated per capita stats are true and correct and the way things keep going with our justice system, then America should refer to itself as the Land of the Incarcerated.
Is this the movie you are talking about?
The big house | Prison Documentary | Atlanta
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvtyqC-c5-M&list=PLbv3w1WAiZF0KoFqMsPbibjreIf3gZDMI
That is one of the episodes. I’m not sure if that is the exact one but yes it’s one of those episodes. I don’t have enough data to watch the whole thing but it Definitely looked familiar.
When I was about 10 years old, I watched breaking news that President Reagan had been gunned down by an assassin. I remember crying because in my innocence I thought it meant the end of America. After a few days, America learned that President Reagan survived and that the would be assassin was in custody. Recently, some forty years later, I watched the would be assassin named John Hinkley, Jr get released from his civil commitment because a judge ruled he is no longer a danger to the public. Yet, this is a man who attempted to kill a sitting US President, although found not guilty by reason of insanity. I now cry as a grown man because I am under government surveillance and compelled to register for the remainder of my life under constant threat of imprisonment if I don’t. I cry because a judge deemed me to be a danger to society for an offense that the law says carries a maximum ten year penalty. I cry because Hinkley is free and I will never be. There is no end to sex offender prosecution. But at least for a man who shot President Reagan (among others) he walks free. This is insanity to me.
Profits are more important than people which is why we have the highest incarceration rates in the world. Some things in life shouldn’t be profitable and that is putting people in treatment prisons with no way out. Hotel California Treatment Centers
Haha! I see what you did there. Or maybe you didn’t do it on purpose. LOL
You’re are correct. The profits are only kept by keeping people incarcerated. Especially through private corporations that the government hires i.e the GEO private facilities here in Florida. If the main and true objective is to “actually” rehabilitate inmates, then essentially and theoretically these private prison corporations will eventually work themselves out of a job and the corporation will not grow or expand. Just the economics alone in private prisons asks for lobbyists and lawmakers to create and enforce more laws and stricter laws. Imo, there really no true “rehabilitation” in private prisons. They need you back in their prison in order to keep making money and to expand their corporation/business. They may save the government money but the government would save more money by actually increasing rehabilitated inmates. Anyways here is a link to what I Googled about how private prisons make their money and how that money conflicts with actual justice and rehabilitation.
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/062215/business-model-private-prisons.asp