I try to get a lot of information about who makes the big money with all those prisoners in Texas and also the USA. America's prisoners have to work as slaves - there has to be a big income, but they do not even pay a lot to their guards. Where is all the money ? Who owns the prisons ?

And who makes money with pepper sprays, prison food etc. ? Are there also politicans involved - maybe those who try to make punishments harder and longer ?

I would be happy about every information/link about this.

Yours

SAbine

Don't know about other states but some of the private prisons of Oklahoma are owned by the Governor and his wife. So I would happily guess those funds go into their pocket. There are law suits bouncing around but they are so far being thrown out of court. But at the " Least" I would say policy in forced by legislation endorse by Governor/owner could and would be a conflict of interest.

Oh my god, thats crazy. I would need it more about Texas, but I am shocked. I can tell you, that this would be impossible in Austria. Wow, what a crazy world. Isnt the governor the person who could send a prisoner home ? Why should he if he still can make money with him. This is so crazy ...

the guards make more then you realize in tx.. the other thing you have to realize is the amount of gurards in texas. we have like 139 prisons in tx alone.. The money goes in several ways one of which is to a victims and there families fund.. it also pays for indigent inmates and the big saleries of the high up officials within the TDJC system..

The commissary and industrial contacts make up a lot of it.. Which companies have the contacts.. Keefe is big in texas.. You hit the commissary in the feds and they have a lot of exclusives.. UNICOR is big business for the government itself.. State prisons are actually letting private companies step inside, so I saw on national TV a while back... Interesting...

David

UNICOR ? Hmm, thanks a name is something to start with. Would be great if the governor would own it. :-)

Yours

Sabine

In 1999 TDCJ made a profit of 68 million dollars according to their financial statements. The interest on the inmates trust funds runs over a million dollars a years and goes into the Texas General Revenue Funds. There is a lawsuit fixing to go the appeal court on this matter that the interest has to be paid to the inmates....and the suit is asking for it to be retroactive to all previous inmates...one financial statement showed the interest earned on ITF was 5 million and it was know that all the BIG Wigs of TDCJ ADMIN had a big fat Texas Bar-B-Que and beer party on it...plus TDCJ furnished the beef for the BBQ....Usually will find someone's brother-in-law or some relative with a different name gets the contracts that give kick backs to those that give them the contract...that is what the trial was about with former Director of TDCJ Andy Collins on Vita Pro and the contracts he gave out and the kick backs that were received. The profit from Commissary (Prison Store) is suppose to go into recreational equipment and education for the inmates....ooopsss did I tell something that I am not suppose to know? This is our money. You that property that has warranties that the inmates have to buy like fans....when it does not work properly, the inmates have to turn it in before they can purchase a new one....what happens to the old one...it gets sent back to the factory on warranty....credit to TDCJ accounts not to the inmate.....whommmmmmm Think about this, nearly all high up positions in TDCJ is "appointed" by the governor from Executive Director, Ass't EX Dir, Board Members, committees, head of medical, head of any department, etc....I wonder how you get appointed to those positions....wouldn't have to do with you scratch my back and I will yours....for example - the latest thing going into the air ports called the security scanner machines that cost several million dollar a piece....guess what congressman's wife is on the board of that company. Senator Phil Gramm's wife was on the board of Enron...what does that tell you...the news reported he had over 1 million cash in his bank account when he announced he would not run another term....if he can accumulate that much money being a senator....we are paying them too much money and just think right now they are fixing to give themselves another raise, they just got one last december, then a cost of living in Feb.....since when can they just vote themselves a raise....I need one of those jobs. There is an information sheet under Texas Department Criminal Justice web page you can go look at all the units owned by TDCJ and this does not include the private units. People are not aware that TDCJ has 40 factories in the prison units with free salve labor that is putting the small business man out of business. That module furniture you get at Wal Mart - that you put together is made by inmates....shippped around the world then back to us...the steel factors in the units make a profit close to 2 million a year and nearly all the same figures for all the other factories, they have the public convinced that the inmates grow their own food and meat, but the truth is most of it goes on the open stock market...the inmates get the left overs which rarely do they get meat except those hot links that are made from the scraping off the meat packing plant at one of the units and the inmates that have worked there will not touch the hot links because of all the crap in them that was on the floor and no sanitation. Yes it cost a lot to have almost 50,000 employees of the prison system, but they go to three week training and make more working for the prison system than school teachers that spend 4 years in college to get teaching certificates...plus they have all medical, sick leave pay, retirement funds, they have some e-bonds they can purchase to send their kids to college, vacations, all their uniforms and laundry are funished by the state, shoes, guns, pepper spray, all that stuff....if you visit the unit look in the parking lot where the employees park...make note of all the new vehicles sitting out there in their parking spaces....they aint' hurting. They just like to hear themselves so all they do is whine. Where do you think most of the politicians get their running money - through kick backs from prison stuff. In 1999 at the Prison conference TDCJ gave Chuck Colson, Prison Fellowship, $5 million dollars for operating his non-profit organization....what you say?????!!!! True story - it came out of the prison funds...so you can draw rest of the picture. Sure I know that Chuck Colson has done a lot of great stuff for prisons all over the world and I don't object to him being helped....but at our expense via our love ones in prison. The inmates when they pay resitution, parole fees, and probation fees, portions of that goes to the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA)....which goes to help victims of crime....which I don't have a problem with that but you should see the overhead cost of operating that before what is left over for the victims....If you want to know more email and I will try to inform...thunderchix PAPA_@msn.com (that is the underscore not a hypen mark)

Your knowledge just astounds me!!