On the U.S. incarceration rate and prison labor

1. Declare a War on Drugs and institute laws that will increase the number of prisoners.

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2. Within a few decades, the "Land of the Free" achieves First Place!

 

Source: International Centre for Prison Studies, Data for 2003 (obtained From NationMaster).

3. Grow the private prison population.

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From "Making Money off of Putting People in Prison." Justice Policy Institute, 9/29/2011.

Putting people behind bars is a big money-maker. In 2010 alone, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Group (GEO), the two largest private prison companies in the U.S., raked in over $2.9 billion dollars in revenue. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the number of people in state and federal private prisons in the U.S. totaled 129,336 in 2009, and CCA and GEO’s revenue was $2.77 billion...

For instance:
• Since 2000, private prison companies have contributed over $7.2 million to state candidates and political parties.
• Between the 2002 and 2012 election cycles, CCA and GEO’s Political Action Committees (PACs) have doled out $1,212,889 and $1,010,002 respectively to federal parties, candidates and committees.
• Since 2000, private prison companies (CCA, GEO and Cornell Corrections) have given $867,010 –to federal candidates alone.
• Since 2000, private prison companies (CCA, GEO and Cornell Corrections) have spent over $21 million on federal lobbying efforts with the majority, over $17 million being spent by CCA alone.

 

4. Voilà! Now there's a growing source of extremely cheap domestic labor from which corporations can earn profits. An added benefit to them is that these thousands of workers don't have transportation and childcare issues, and they are also being fed and maintained by U.S. taxpayers.

5. So remind me again how what's being done is so different from THIS?