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Who says prisons have to be non-profit?

Problem solved.

You apparently have never heard of THESE guys:

http://www.correctionscorp.com...

https://www.motherjones.com/po...

I'm going to assume you're not an American, because an American who needs a citation for this fact is woefully ignorant of what's going on in this country. According to the National Institute of Justice, a division of the U.S. Department of Justice:

Seven percent of the 1.5 million prisoners in the United States are held in privately operated prisons, according to the most recent survey of prisons published by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.[1] At midyear 2006, there were 84,867 State inmates and 27,108 Federal inmates in privately operated prisons—a 10-percent increase over the previous year.

The largest operator of private prisons is the Corrections Corporation of America. By its own assertion as of 2010:

The company is the fourth-largest corrections system in the nation, behind only the federal government and three states. CCA houses approximately 75,000 offenders and detainees in more than 60 facilities, 44 of which are company-owned, with a total bed capacity of more than 80,000.

The International Foundation for Protection Officers says:

...in spite of the many concerns associated with Prison Privatization, the trend toward increased privatization is likely to continue. In fact, recent initiatives like the Bush Administration's FAIR Act seek to ensure such an outcome by setting mandatory privatization quotas including the privatization of 7,200 federal corrections jobs.

If that's not good enough for you, pick up a newspaper once in a while.

There are about 120 of them in the US here is a small list of some of those.

Colorado
Bent County Correctional Facility
Crowley County Correctional Facility
Kit Carson Correctional Center

Tennessee
Hardeman County Correctional Center
Whiteville Correctional Facility

Texas
Crystal City Correctional Center
Bartlett State Jail

Heck here is the list that CCA runs
http://www.correctionscorp.com/facilities/

Or maybe next time you wonder why the sky is blue or 2 + 2 = 4, use google.

Whatever the police may tell you, their only interest is getting as many people arrested as possible. You shold never initiate a contact with law enforcement unless absolutely necessary, or you'll just make yourself the focus of their attention.

This is especially true considering that there's a lot of money to be made locking people up.

Maybe, but what will be very interesting is when the police start testing your money at a routine traffic stop, and all the sudden 90% of the US population is in prison for possession. I really hope CCA doesn't read /.

So if downloading "kiddie-porn" is illegal, buy CCA - stock !

That would never happen. We'd surely never have corporations that specialize in design, building and management of prisons, jails and detention facilities and providing inmate residential and prisoner transportation services in partnership with government. Oh, wait...

Great books, but I wouldn't want to live there.

You already do.

More frightening are prisons actually run by private corporations. There is huge potential for fraud, abuse, and violation of the intent of the prison system, as well as little evidence that these corporations actually save money; most evidence shows that they cost more money through various hidden costs. Texas I believe, along with California, are leaders in this field. Read The Nation article carefully before making any more uninformed posts. As you can see, corporations actually do benefit from the production of more prisons.