Re:NYC Paid McKinsey $27.5M to Stem Jail Violence. Instead, ...
by rmrfstar on Sunday November 29, 2020 @05:46PM
(#25248803)
The "prison profits" slogan isn't great, because it conceals the nature of the power structure that perpetuates the system.
The US prison system is a patronage system, not a profit system. It provides stable, nontradable jobs for a large group of relatively low skill people. Guards, cops, and corporate vendors to those groups. It turns out that Microsoft is a good example of that latter category.
Managing a patronage system is a particularly potent form of political power. Patronage systems underwrite most examples of "Machine Politics", particularly Chicago style Machine Politics.
I would personally like to see the word "patronage" return to American political discourse. It's something our ancestors talked a lot about, but we don't.
The US prison system is a patronage system, not a profit system. It provides stable, nontradable jobs for a large group of relatively low skill people. Guards, cops, and corporate vendors to those groups. It turns out that Microsoft is a good example of that latter category.
Managing a patronage system is a particularly potent form of political power. Patronage systems underwrite most examples of "Machine Politics", particularly Chicago style Machine Politics.
I would personally like to see the word "patronage" return to American political discourse. It's something our ancestors talked a lot about, but we don't.
Patronage systems brought down the USSR.