>" Many of America's prisons are run by for-profit corporations, so clearly some people are making lots and lots of money off the booming business of keeping human beings in cages. But who are these people? Using public data, I came up with some names"
.."You likely already know how overcrowded and abusive the US prison system is, and you probably are also aware that the US has more people in prison than even China or Russia. In this age of privatization, of course, it's also not surprising that many of the detention centers are not actually operated by the government, but by for-profit companies. So clearly, some people are making lots and lots of money off the booming business of keeping human beings in cages. *Quoted from Ray Downs:*

But who are these people? Downs continues:

Using NASDAQ data, I looked through the long list of investors in Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group, the two biggest corporations that operate detention centers in the US, to find out who was cashing in the most on prisons. When we say "prison-industrial complex," this is who we're talking about.

Henri Wedell
The individual who's invested the most in private prisons is Henri Wedell, who started serving on CCA's board of directors in 2000, when the company was struggling with scandals related to prisoner abuse and mismanagement. He now owns more than 650,000 shares in the company, which is far more successful these days. Those shares are worth more than $25 million.

I called Wedell to ask him what it was like to make a fortune from the incarceration of others, and whether it bothered him to profit off a system that puts more people in prison than any other country in the world.

"America is the freest country in the world," he told me. "America allows more freedom than any other country in the world, much more than Russia and a whole lot more than Scandinavia, where they really aren't free. So offering all this freedom to society, there'll be a certain number of people, more in this country than elsewhere, who take advantage of that freedom, abuse it, and end up in prison. That happens because we are so free in this country."

Presumably, when he's referring to all the freedom Americans have, he's not including the 80,000 inmates in 60 prisons operated by CCA.

George Zoley
Another prison profiteer who presumably has no moral qualms about the business is George Zoley, the CEO of GEO Group and the second-biggest investor in the incarceration industry. In fact, he's so proud of his business, which has committed a laundry list of human rights abuses, he tried to get a college football stadium named after it."

You can call me a liar, but yet you have ways less than half the credibility I have.
"Who Owns Private Prisons? Most Likely, You! The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been on the receiving end of public scrutiny for its controversial holdings in America's two largest private prison companies – the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Group (GEO).Apr 3, 2015"
When you research the ownership of America's private prisons, many are there are many trusts, foundations, and private companies involved. And some of the shareholders of these companies do not even know the companies they hold shares in own prisons."
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"So it's not such a stretch that a Democratic donor would also be in the men-in-cages industry. The Vanguard Group and Fidelity Investments are America's top two 401(k) providers. They are also two of the private prison industry's biggest investors. Together, they own about 20 percent of both CCA and GEO.May 17, 2013"

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Minnis policies so far are discriminatory against poor, working Bahamians and small businesses. And if he doesn't stop listening to some of the financial imbeciles he has appointed, some who have no qualifications in finance and economics, the country will see more Bahamian owned businesses fail and close than probable since the recession started in 2008. Now Marvin Dames wants to appoint a foreign commissioner of prisons. Positions that since 1973, were reserved strictly for Bahamians The people voted the PLP out because they had enough of them and their policies. And unless Minnis can cause substantial funds to be returned to the public treasury and/or persons to receive significant jail time for theft and corruption, the public does not want to continue financing his political witch hunt. Especially after times for Bahamians are getting harder under Bahamians. You cutting everything Bahamian but finding money for a witch hunt that only benefiting politicians..NO!

But Marvin Dames may be able to find his ideal candidate for Commissioner of prisons in the United States. That country had a steadily declining prison population for almost a decade and a number of the privately operated prisons are no longer profitable, so they are closing their corporate doors and not prison cell gates. The decline in prison population was due to slight decreases in crime, convicted persons receiving shorter prison sentences and minoroties, mostly Blacks and Hispanics receiving more due process, when charged with crimes. If elected, Hillary Clinton had planned to fill these private prisons, which are owned mostly by Democrats and supporters, with gang members from Chicago, Memphis LA and other US cities. Since most of these gang bangers are poor and minorities, they stood little or no chance of getting out once thrown in jail if only on information collected from their Facebook profile. Chicago recorded its bloodiest and most deadly year in hisylast year with over 600 murders and over 3000 shootings. And while , like the Bahamas, murders are down by 20 percent this year to date, the violence and mayhem is still out of control. Chicago recently set records with 79 shootings in three days which resulted in 11 deaths. More people are killed in Chicago every year that in all the US armed forces serving around the world. Yes that bad. And President Donald Trump had at one point planned to send in troops to quiet the violence and killings that some believe are being driven by external forces.

So what is succession planning? Didn’t the police force send officers away on trading at one point , at least, and one went on to become commissioner. So the prison system should be no different. There should be at least three officers in the system capable of heading that institution at any given time. So is this a case of all Indians and chief soon gone? And the idea to invest in the physical structure of the prison is a good one. Not only for the inmates who are housed there, but for the officers who work there and the general public as well as persons who visit. Taking into account a murder rate in the triple digits for almost a decade, the prison is becoming filled with persons convicted of murder or on remand. To the tune of at least 60 a year. These persons are mostly under the age of 30 and looking to spend at least 40 years in that institution if they are given life sentences. So eventually, if not already, the majority of the prison population will compose of convicted murderers. Security must be the number one priority.

Marvin Dames speaks out both sides of his mouth. When the police pumped 18 bullets into an innocent, young man in Mason's Addition, Dames response was that there would be no special investigation into the matter. In other words, it would be business as usual. this was despite a loud outcry from the police force on obviously what was perceived as an abuse of (police) powers, excessive force, wrongful death and suspicious actions by at least one of the officers involved. Today many still feel the manner was handled in a very unprofessional manner, it left a strong distaste for those who witnessed the incident, those who lost a loved one, the community at large and even the proprietor of the store who called to report the crime being perpetrated against him. The police, like in other incidents were cold-hearted and arrogant in their stance. And no one even offered sympathy for the grieving. There may be errors and there may be mistakes, but an officer who pumps eighteen bullets, most in the back of an innocent victim.is as far from professionalism as a police officer can get. He is out-of-control and should not even have a uniform much less a weapon.

But when the foreign boaters complained about the $100 cruising permit, it was adjusted. But more than half the boats coming from the US to the Bahamas to fish do not get a permit anyway. And guess what? There’s usually no one to check them. And they come over weekend after weekend and take thousands of dollars in fish and shell fish, without spending a dime for it and the only thing they spend in the Bahamas is on fuel to get back home. And there is no limit )at least none enforced) on the amount of sea catch they can take when they leave.

And while they claimed to have removed customs duties on clothing and shoes, only the big, affluent stores can benefit. The small and struggling stores that are behind on their taxes, still have to pay customs duties on these items. So now they have an even more difficult time trying to stay in business and catching up with their taxes. Innis has launched blatant attacks on Lower income Bahamians and local businesses as no government has ever done. It is clear discrimination.

And just a few weeks after D’Aguliar said the government wouldn’t even consider a reversal on the Web shop tax increases. What political punks!

While the commissioner reports that crime is down the country is still set to experience triple digit murders this year. And apparently persons still feel like they have license to kill as they do not fear the consequences, even if it is their own death. And it is not only here in the Bahamas that is experiencing the problems with crime and especially murder. In Chicago two weeks after the mayor touted that murders were down 20% under last years 605 homicides and several thousand shootings, Chicago experienced two of its bloodiest weekends in its history. Last weekend some 46 persons were shot resulting in seven deaths. And in the past three days some seventy nine persons were shot resulting in 11 deaths, which the media claims is the bloodiest three day period in the history of Chicago. And in London efforts are underway to ban a new type of rap called ‘drill.’ This music instructs and encourages gang bangers to attack and stab up rival gang members. It is believed to be responsible for the recent increase in stabbing in that city among young, mostly black, gang members. Unlike in Chicago where guns are used, most of the killings in London are by stabbing. Guns are more difficult to come by and earlier this year US president, Donald Trump urged officials in Britain to allow more citizens to arm themselves with guns to help combat the stabbings. Trump also wanted to arm school teachers in his own country after a multiple school shooting earlier this year