Re:Myths of the private prison industry
by mindslight on Tuesday October 20, 2015 @10:42AM
(#10419446)
It's essentially the same thing that has happened across many other areas of the economy - it's impractical to own slaves, so they're rented instead.
Apparently a large amount of those fees are paid back to the prisons via "commissions", so it's basically governments auctioning off the right to take advantage of prisoners and their families.