⛓️ YOUR SENTENCE, THEIR PROFIT
PRISON INDUSTRY
Modern slavery, re-branded as safety.
“They promised justice. They built a business.”
Prisons were meant to rehabilitate—offering a second chance and a path back.
But behind the bars and buzzers lies a brutal truth:
It’s not a justice system.
It’s a business model—with you as the product.
Welcome to the Prison Industrial Complex.
Modern slavery didn’t end. It just got rebranded.
🚨 WHAT’S REALLY HAPPENING?
You’re told prison is for the dangerous.
But the majority are non-violent, poor, and disproportionately Black or Indigenous.
Your sentence funds their stock price.
Your freedom is bad for business.
Prison is no longer the end of the system.
It is the system.
💰 HOW THEY PROFIT FROM PRISON
1️⃣ Private Prison Contracts
CoreCivic and GEO Group rake in billions with occupancy guarantees.
Some contracts demand 90%+ capacity—meaning empty beds cost them money.
2️⃣ Slave Labour
Inmates earn as little as $0.23/hour making products for Victoria’s Secret, Starbucks, and the military.
It’s not rehabilitation—it’s exploitation.
3️⃣ Sentencing Incentives
Longer sentences = longer profits.
In states with private prisons, judges hand out 20% longer terms, per 2023 study.
4️⃣ Prison Supply Industry
Food contracts, phone services, commissary—$80 billion/year industry.
Families pay $1/minute for calls and $5 for instant ramen.
5️⃣ Juvenile Pipelines
80% of incarcerated youth are from low-income homes.
The earlier the sentence, the longer the leash.
🧠 🧭 🧠 🧭
This isn’t justice.
It’s human warehousing for cash.
⚠️ WHY THIS MATTERS
This isn’t just about prison.
It’s about a society built on punishment, not prevention.
🚧 Recidivism By Design
Nearly 70% of released inmates are re-arrested within 3 years.
There’s no support for reentry—because repeat customers are profitable.
💔 Families Shattered
1 in 3 Black boys born today will be imprisoned, per BJS 2024.
Entire communities are destabilized—by design.
📉 Education Defunded
In states with rising prison costs, school funding drops.
The school-to-prison pipeline is real—and intentional.
🧠 🧭 🧠 🧭
The system isn’t fixing crime.
It’s manufacturing it.
🩸 THE REAL COST
🏚 Generational Trauma
Children of incarcerated parents are 6x more likely to be imprisoned themselves.
💸 Poverty Entrapment
Prison sentences often begin with unpaid fines, tickets, or missed child support—punishing poverty.
🔇 Silenced Resistance
Prison strikes and whistle-blowers face solitary confinement and retaliation.
Voices that challenge the system are buried within it.
🧠 🧭 🧠 🧭
Your sentence is their subscription model.
🧠 WHO’S BEHIND IT?
- 🏢 CoreCivic & GEO Group – Private prison giants with political influence
- 💼 ALEC – Corporate-backed group pushing tough-on-crime legislation
- 📞 Securus & GTL – Telecom companies charging outrageous rates to inmates
- 🍽 Aramark – Prison food contractor with repeated safety violations
- ⚖️ Judges & Politicians – Many with stock in the very companies they sentence for
🧠 🧭 🧠 🧭
They sell punishment.
They deliver profit.
⛓ “The school-to-prison pipeline isn’t a glitch. It’s a business model.”
— Anonymous
🔓 HOW TO BREAK FREE
You don’t need to wait for prison reform.
You need to fight for justice reform.
📚 Educate Yourself
Watch 13th on Netflix. Read The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander.
Understand how modern slavery survives.
📣 Expose the Pipeline
Tag #PrisonForProfit on X.
Share stories, stats, and resistance movements.
💵 Starve the System
Support organizations like Worth Rises or local prison abolition networks.
Pressure corporations using prison labour.
🤝 Rebuild Community
Mentor at-risk youth. Fund programs that stop crime before it starts.
Prevention is liberation.
🗳 Vote for Change
DAs, judges, and sheriffs are often elected.
Change the bench to change the bars.
🧠 🧭 🧠 🧭
🧠 THE TRUTH UNMASKED
They didn’t fix crime.
They monetized it.
They didn’t rehabilitate.
They replaced chains with contracts.
But now you know.
🚀 DO THIS NOW:
✅ Share 13th with one person this week
✅ Look up your local DA or judge—are they reformers or enforcers?
✅ Support a group fighting mass incarceration
✅ Donate a call credit to an inmate or family
🧠 🧭 🧠 🧭
🧠 THINK. ❓ QUESTION. ✊ ACT.
You’re not an inmate-in-waiting.
You’re a free human being.
Reclaim the narrative—before it’s locked away.
🔁 SHARE THIS. TAG A FRIEND.
#PrisonForProfit | #JusticeNotProfit | #CompassSeries
Prisons shouldn’t be profit centres. Your support helps us challenge the illusion of safety and spotlight the real bars.
NEXT Compass Series FEATURE:
SUGGESTED RELATED READING:
