The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the entire world. The United States accounts for approximately 5% of the world’s population, yet it accounts for 25% of the world’s prisoners. Not only does the United States mercilessly incarcerate its own citizens, it disproportionately incarcerates African American and Latino men. This fact on its own is disturbing; however, when it is coupled with the fact that corporations profit from and lobby for an overly aggressive and ineffective criminal justice system, makes these statistics even more horrendous. Private prison companies such as Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group admit that their business model is dependent on the incarceration of massive numbers of human beings and that leniency in criminal punishment would adversely affect profits. The capitalist mentality which is essential for these corporations to stay in business is inherently incompatible with human rights.
","abstract_html":"<p>The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the entire world. The United States accounts for approximately 5% of the world’s population, yet it accounts for 25% of the world’s prisoners. Not only does the United States mercilessly incarcerate its own citizens, it disproportionately incarcerates African American and Latino men. This fact on its own is disturbing; however, when it is coupled with the fact that corporations profit from and lobby for an overly aggressive and ineffective criminal justice system, makes these statistics even more horrendous. Private prison companies such as Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group admit that their business model is dependent on the incarceration of massive numbers of human beings and that leniency in criminal punishment would adversely affect profits. The capitalist mentality which is essential for these corporations to stay in business is inherently incompatible with human rights.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Morrell, Alythea S."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts in International and Multicultural Education (IME)","degree_level":"Project/Capstone - Global access","degree_discipline":"International and Multicultural Education (IME)","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Onllwyn C. Dixon"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015-12-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2015-12-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:43:24Z","subjects":["incarceration","prison industrial complex","slave labor","prion labor","profit","prison","human rights","Critical Race Theory","Corrections Corporation of America","GEO Group","United States","America","Civil Rights and Discrimination","Human Rights Law","Law and Race","Political Science","Sociology","United States History"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://repository.usfca.edu/capstone/263","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Onllwyn C. Dixon"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Morrell, Alythea S."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2015-12-21T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["International and Multicultural Education (IME)"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Project/Capstone - Global access"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts in International and Multicultural Education (IME)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["incarceration","prison industrial complex","slave labor","prion labor","profit","prison","human rights","Critical Race Theory","Corrections Corporation of America","GEO Group","United States","America","Civil Rights and Discrimination","Human Rights Law","Law and Race","Political Science","Sociology","United States History"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://repository.usfca.edu/capstone/263"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the entire world. The United States accounts for approximately 5% of the world’s population, yet it accounts for 25% of the world’s prisoners. Not only does the United States mercilessly incarcerate its own citizens, it disproportionately incarcerates African American and Latino men. This fact on its own is disturbing; however, when it is coupled with the fact that corporations profit from and lobby for an overly aggressive and ineffective criminal justice system, makes these statistics even more horrendous. Private prison companies such as Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group admit that their business model is dependent on the incarceration of massive numbers of human beings and that leniency in criminal punishment would adversely affect profits. The capitalist mentality which is essential for these corporations to stay in business is inherently incompatible with human rights.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Incentives to Incarcerate: Corporation Involvement in Prison Labor and the Privatization of the Prison System"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Onllwyn C. Dixon"],"dc:creator":["Morrell, Alythea S."],"dc:date.available":["2015-12-21T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the entire world. The United States accounts for approximately 5% of the world’s population, yet it accounts for 25% of the world’s prisoners. Not only does the United States mercilessly incarcerate its own citizens, it disproportionately incarcerates African American and Latino men. This fact on its own is disturbing; however, when it is coupled with the fact that corporations profit from and lobby for an overly aggressive and ineffective criminal justice system, makes these statistics even more horrendous. Private prison companies such as Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group admit that their business model is dependent on the incarceration of massive numbers of human beings and that leniency in criminal punishment would adversely affect profits. The capitalist mentality which is essential for these corporations to stay in business is inherently incompatible with human rights.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://repository.usfca.edu/capstone/263"],"dc:subject":["incarceration","prison industrial complex","slave labor","prion labor","profit","prison","human rights","Critical Race Theory","Corrections Corporation of America","GEO Group","United States","America","Civil Rights and Discrimination","Human Rights Law","Law and Race","Political Science","Sociology","United States History"],"dc:title":["Incentives to Incarcerate: Corporation Involvement in Prison Labor and the Privatization of the Prison System"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["International and Multicultural Education (IME)"],"thesis:degree_level":["Project/Capstone - Global access"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts in International and Multicultural Education (IME)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:43:24Z"}