Prison monopoly

In the United States of America, the average prison gets $50,000 per inmate per year. A hefty amount of money. Now, being that this is more than double the annual wage of the average inmate, you would think they would be living in conditions a lot better than at home. But they really don't. What on earth would $50,000 per person go towards? They get bad food, bad clothes, bad beds. This money clearly isn't being spent on the prisoners.

Now, there are more black prisoners in the US jails for drug related crimes (possession, distribution, consumption) than anything else. Prison is meant to be about rehabilitation, and getting you out of a life of crime. However, once you leave prison, you have a criminal record. This reduces your chances of getting a job greatly. In some cases, ENTIRELY. So first, the poor and criminally active black citizens are thrown together in ghettos. This means, the children growing up there are very likely to take on similar lifestyles to those around them. Then these "criminals" are thrown in jail, once out have a criminal record and can't get a job. If you can't get a job, in those conditions, the most appealing thing is to turn to something illegal to make your money. You get caught again, back to prison. You earn the jails another juicy $50k. This cycle goes on and on.

This means essentially, a prison monopoly is taking place. It could just be coincidental, of course. Though, I have no doubt in my mind it isn't. It is a pretty smart way of trapping the poor people into giving the government an excuse to spend the tax payers money on themselves "legally".

Call me suspicious, but trapping someone into a life of jobless doubt isn't very rehab-like.