Well that didn't take long at all. Ohio, with its anti-union, pro-corporate governor John Kasich, is planning on selling 5 state prisons to private companies who won't perform to the same standards as the state or save money. But the administration was convinced they offered some sort of cost-savings (despite a plethora of research to the contrary), and initially said the state would earn $200 million from the sale of the prisons. But it turns out they now only expect to earn about $50 million, 1/4 of what the originally thought they'd get.
And if that wasn't enough, there's this story from today discussing how special interests are ramping up their lobbying efforts in the state, hoping to woo the conservative governor. It should come as no surprise that Kasich's close personal friend for decades, and former chief of staff for 20 years, formed a lobbying company after Kasich won the election. A lobbying company that represents, among others, CCA, the company from which Kasich's new director of the DOC came, and who will be bidding to purchase the state prisons.
Welcome to privatized utopia.
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