Yep, you heard me. You're paying to put your friends in jail. At least that's what happens in a state with private-run prisons, which includes Michigan. And that's not all that's wrong with it.

Here's how it works:

Usually, states bear the costs of running correctional facilities. This means taxpayers pay more when there are more prisoners to keep cooped up. Companies will offer to buy these facilities off the state and run them privately in hopes of saving the state money and also earning money for themselves. However, in exchange, a contract is made with the state; the state will pay them a stipend based on a number of factors, including the size of a prison, how long (monthly or annually) it will be running, or most commonly by prisoner population quotas. The state is paying this company for their services after all. Which means so are you.

Prisoner population quotas basically require the state to fill beds in the private prison or else pay for the price of the empty bed. Most contracts require 80 to 100 percent occupancy. Investopedia explains perfectly how profits using this model are actually made: "Let’s suppose that it costs $100 per day to house a prisoner (assuming full capacity, including all administration costs), and the prison building can hold 1,000 inmates. A private prison can offer their services to the government and charge $150 per day per prisoner. Generally speaking, the government will agree to these terms if the $150 is less than if the prison was publicly run. That spread is where the private prison makes their money."

What's wrong with it?

Demand for prisoners: More prisoners in the system means more profit for the company, which means more money the state is forking over. When prisoners = profit, there suddenly becomes a demand for criminals. Prisoners are a commodity and criminals are desired by the market. About 2/3 of private prisons require the government to keep a 90% occupancy rate. This means that no matter what, the prison is guaranteed its pay. When the state has to pay for empty beds in a prison, there becomes an incentive to create criminals to fill them. In Colorado, crime has actually dropped by 1/3 in the last decade. However, private prison contracts have cost citizens an additional $2 million for no reason. Essentially, this is putting a punishment tax on low crime rates.

Isn't this the opposite of a prison's goal? Aren't we trying to rehabilitate people, not create criminals and hold them indefinitely? Public prisons tax more when there are more criminals, incentivizing obedience to law and order. Why would we incentivize the opposite?

Cutting costs is cutting standards: As any business, private prisons will also cut costs to increase profits. While this is perfectly fine for a notebook producer or a restaurant chain, it is not for a business that is providing a public service to human beings. Here's why: cuts that are made in the prison also cut down the prisoners quality of life. Let's say the prison owner decides to cut corners on meal plans for the inmates. It could save them $2 per inmate per day to buy bread instead of vegetables. This saves $2,000 a day with 1,000 beds filled! Great for business. But the inmates now all get less nutritional diets, which let's remember are forced upon them. They have no alternative; their health is dependent on those who run the prison. Similar cuts with hygiene and overcrowding lead to an overall low standard of living and borderline inhumane conditions.

But who cares, right? They're criminals anyway. They deserve it. Because having un-prescribed Vicodin in your purse makes you a menace to society. Because teaching someone to count cards at the casino makes you the world's worst scum. Because possessing a plant that is recognized as medicinal makes you dangerous and worthy of forced captivity and low living standards for a life sentence.

Do people really agree that whatever is against the law must be wrong? Do people really stand behind life sentences and felonies for non-violent crimes? Is this why private prisons have escaped the scrutiny that Big Pharma and Big Oil experience? Have you never stolen, trespassed, played Hey Mister? I believe our country has some introspection and mental healing to do.

Politics for profits: Private prison companies like GEO will try to increase their profits by using politics, not unlike other corrupt corporate giants. They will lobby for stricter laws and harsher sentences in order to create more criminals (more beds filled) and longer sentences (stabilized profits). They will donate directly to political candidates who support private prisons or who have supported stricter laws to persuade them to continue -- or start -- doing so. They network effectively, so that a former private prison executive will be hired in as a government official who is able to influence policy that will be good for business or vice versa. This is not okay.

The effect of this is that your tax dollars go into the pockets of those who bribe politicians to create stricter laws. These laws apply to you, your family, your friends, your neighbors. It's thought that this was the root of the war on drugs -- to create more criminals. You are paying to potentially put your friends in jail.

Target markets: Every business has a target market. Sadly, it seems so does this one. Young black males (and other poc) are incarcerated far more frequently than white males (and females in general). Black men are six times more likely than white men to be in prison and Hispanic men are 2.4 times more likely. Racism makes them easier to target than other groups; though this isn't necessarily the fault of the prison, but the fault of enforcers. The problem is so exacerbated that other statistics, such as the unemployment rate which doesn't consider those behind bars, is extremely skewed for blacks. It creates the illusion that a higher percentage of black males are employed, when really they can't be counted because they are in jail. If you want to look deeper into black imprisonment, I suggest watching the documentary 13th on Netflix.

Let's look at the numbers.

This problem is already out of control. The phenomenon of private prisons began in the 1980's and is well on its way to replacing prison as a public service. Between 1990 and 2009, private prisons saw a 1600% increase in prisoners held. Now, private companies are responsible for 6% of state, 16% of federal, and almost 50% of immigrant prisoners. There are 130 private prisons in the US with 157,000 beds.

There are also businesses popping up to fill other needs. Since the state no longer funds jumpsuits, meal trays, guard staffing, or any other item a prison might need, private businesses are created to fill the void. The state also outsources healthcare for prisoners and some spend as much as 385% more because of it. In fact, since the 1980's our spending on healthcare for prisons has increased dramatically from 6.7 to 51.9 billion dollars.

But has their quality of care increased? Some say yes, others say no. In California, a lawsuit was filed against their private provider because "CMFG allegedly “provides deficient medical care in nearly every respect … and [inmates] fail to receive timely or appropriate treatment, resulting in unnecessary and prolonged pain, suffering, worsening of their conditions, and sometimes even death." This is not a comforting thought. Jail time should not become death in the event of sickness.

Our incarceration rates in general are also out of control. We have anywhere from 1.57 to 2.4 million behind bars at any given moment in our country. Compared to other countries, we have the most people behind bars by a long shot. If you think we're the best first world nation or that we are a shining beacon of humanitarianism, you need to think again.

Public services need to be kept public, and private services need to be kept private. Our corporatocracy is not working out for us in any respect and especially not in this one. How can we continue letting a corporation take our tax money and use it to create stricter laws that put us and our friends in jail? How can we let the quality of life for those without the freedom to speak or vote be diminished to line these people's pockets? We trade the hope of cutting state costs for the imprisonment of more people for petty reasons. We're backpedaling our society into one that proliferates criminals instead of trying to eliminate them. Our country houses a quarter of the world's prisoners. Don't you want to change that? Speak up for those that can't. Speak up for your friends. Speak up for yourself, because you're already a victim and you could be next to sit in a cell.