<blockquote>The only way that this for-profit perversion of justice is able to exist is because the criminal justice system takes advantage of groups with less ability to enact reforms, such as minority populations and the poor — especially in how the laws are enforced.</blockquote>
via <a href="http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?id=1302&amp;fulltext=1">Los Angeles Review of Books - Privatized Prisons: A Human Marketplace</a>.
<blockquote>The parallels with current day prison privatization are quite striking. The simple difference being that the economies of the poor have changed. Whereas the London gaolers took advantage of the poor and lower class, the current American system is directed at minority populations.  The perverse incentive that offers those in power to take advantage of the disenfranchised still exists, yet it now thrives under the false pretense of efficiency.</blockquote>