Why For-Profit Prisons House More Inmates Of Color  Mar 13, 2014
Originally published on March 18, 2014 10:03 am  A new study by
a UC-Berkeley graduate student has surprised a number of experts
in the criminology field. Its main finding: Private prisons are
packed with young people of color.  The concept of racial
disparities behind bars is not exactly a new one. Study after
report after working group has found a version of the same
conclusion. The Sentencing Project estimates 1 in 3 black men
will spend time behind bars during their lifetime, compared with
1 in 6 Latino men and 1 in 17 white men. Arrest rates for
marijuana possession are four times as high for black Americans
as for white. Black men spend an average of 20 percent longer
behind bars in federal prisons than their white peers for the
same crimes.  These reports and thousands of others have the
cumulative effect of portraying a criminal justice system that
disproportionately incarcerates black Americans and people of
color in general.  African-A