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Re:Myths of the private prison industry by orangecat on Monday October 19, 2015 @11:24PM (#10417236)
See also http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/10/inmate-calling-compa...

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.

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.