Monday, December 28, 2015

Broken immigration system, poor schools, incarceration of the elderly all bolster private-prison industry prospects, says executive

Anyone who claims private prison companies don't profit off misery must reconcile that belief with this comment:
“The reality is, we are a very affluent country, we have loose borders, and we have a bad education system,” said Shayn March, the vice president and treasurer of the Geo Group. “And all that adds up to a significant amount of correctional needs, which, thankfully, we’ve been able to help the country out with and states with by providing a lower cost solution.”

The previously unreported remarks were made during a presentation at the Barclays High Yield Bond & Syndicated Loan conference in June.
From the same source, we also get this interesting analysis of high US crime rates: "March argued that crime is inherent in America because of affluence. 'No one is committing a lot of crime in poor countries because, well, who are you going to steal from?' March continued," offering an especially sanguine view of the private prison industry's future prospects:
March told attendees that factoring in elderly care, immigrant detention, and expansion plans overseas, the company is sure to grow. “I think I started at GEO, our stock price … got down to $12.50. And if you factor in an apples-to-apples comparison to where we are today, our stock is well over $50 a share. So we have quadrupled our value in that six-year period.”

He added, “No, we’re not Google, but we’re still doing pretty good.”

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