Indiana to take 1200 California prisoners--Thank You Mitch Daniels

I think I'm going to get sick. I've heard that the prison system is nothing more than a big business industry for the wealthy. Not only are the toll roads and our state hospitals up for leases and privatization respectively, but our nation's prison systems have also been moving to become operational through private enterprise. I wonder who are those receiving the benefits here? Into whose pockets do these tax dollars go? I am an RN and I've seen first-hand the use of agencies in the prison system. The state relinquishes the duty of providing benefits for these healthcare workers yet they pay double the salary to the contracted agencies of which the nurse only gets half of that pay on the hour...many times the nurse will receive a slightly higher payscale than at a regular facility but often without decent health benefits and no guarantee of a job when the contract is over. Every so often the state will take bids for nursing agency contracts for these prison & mental health systems and the contract, of course, goes to the lowest bidder. So where does this leave the nurse in the long run? The nurse is often forced to switch tp the agencies that pay the lowest because those are the ones who win the contracts with the state government. This is a race to the bottom in pay for nurses--if only they would understand how they are being used longterm.

But back to the article....

Do you suppose the average Hoosier Joe would be happy knowing that we will be receiving some of California's overflow of criminals?? I thought I've also recalled that our local county jails are overcrowded and much money is needed to expand these particular facilities?? I suppose those die-hard conservatives will continue to support such representatives as Daniels no matter what--so long as they "win". What a pity. What a shame. I wonder if this will make front page Hoosier news? I'll be surprised if it does.

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