
How for-profit prisons have become the biggest lobby no one is talking about - bontoJR
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/04/28/how-for-profit-prisons-have-become-the-biggest-lobby-no-one-is-talking-about/
======
jeffmould
The real issue, IMO, is not who owns or manages the prison, it is the laws we
have on the books in the US that hinder or prevent individuals released from
jails/prisons from becoming productive members of society. Often the easiest
path for them is the path back to jail. For example, we expect an ex-offender
to get out of jail, get a job, have a stable housing environment, pay taxes,
and not break any more laws. Instead, we release individuals, hinder their
ability to find gainful employment because of their arrest, deny them loans,
deny access to public housing, tell them they can't go to some schools and
deny them grants/scholarship opportunities for the ones they can, and then we
tell them they can't vote in elections. While I am all for you do the crime
you do the time, but when does that time end exactly? Do we tell someone that
committed a non-violent petty felony at age 18, serves a year in jail, gets
their HS diploma in that time, and is otherwise a decent person that even when
they get out of jail they are no longer welcome in our society because of
their crime? What do we as a society expect is going to happen to that person?
And the cycle begins.

There's a group that did a short film highlighting these issues:
[https://vimeo.com/121718382](https://vimeo.com/121718382)

Ok, rant over :)

~~~
downandout
It's actually worse than that. Most states and the federal system impose
periods of supervision after release - often lasting for years. During this
time, they aren't just expected to not break the law. They must find a job
that their probation officer approves of, with an employer that is willing to
give reports to the PO, and must disclose their conviction to all potential
employers. They often cannot travel outside the county in which they reside,
even for work. They cannot drink alcohol (even socially) in most cases. Their
constitutional rights against illegal search and seizure are null and void,
and must submit to searches any time and at any place they are. Those that
were accused of financial crimes often are not allowed to possess checking
accounts or credit/debit cards. They often must attend expensive classes &
counseling sessions, and pay supervision fees, along with making any
applicable restitution or payments on fines. These are just the basics that
apply to everyone....there is an infinite list of conditions that can be
imposed based upon the specific crime(s) they committed.

If they violate any of these conditions, they are subject to immediate arrest
and imprisonment, usually without any judicial review. This is one reason
reincarceration rates are so high - it's incredibly easy for these people to
be sent back to jail without even thinking of committing a new crime.

~~~
leesalminen
In Colorado, misdemeanor probation has been "privatized" and is managed by a
for-profit entity (Intervention, Inc. & Rocky Mountain Offender Management
Services [RMOMS]).

I've been through their "system". I'm convinced it's a money making scheme.
Their "case managers" (you don't even get a probation officer) are paid
$12/hour and are implicitly instructed to find ways to charge you more money.
I've had one lie to my face about a state statute (that I had memorized, word
for word) to try to get me to pay them more money.

A first-offense, low BAC DWAI in Colorado set me back >$20,000 over 2.5 years
and 3 lawyers.

~~~
nate_meurer
Holy shit. Do you mind saying more about that amount? Fines vs. lawyers fees,
vs probationary costs?

~~~
leesalminen
Lawyer 1 Retainer: $4000

DMV License Revocation Hearing: $50

MADD Panel: $30

Court Fines: $2000

County Probation Intake Fee: $100

Private Probation Intake Fee: $100

Probation Supervision: $1000

Community Service Fees: $250

Urinalysis: $1000

Bus for urinalysis: $750

The single urinalysis during a trip to NYC: $300

Alcohol Education Classes (teacher ripped me off, had to repeat): $1500

Alcohol Education Classes Round 2: $1500

Lawyer #2 to Fight Class #1: $4000

Lawyer #3 to Fight Class #1: $2000

Alcohol Therapy: $2400

Probation Discharge Fee: $100

License Reinstatement Application: $95

Driving Permit Application: $50

Driver License Application: $50

Ignition Interlock Installation: $100

Ignition Interlock Lease: $2400

Job opportunity lost: VP of Engineering at mid size software startup. Required
short notice international travel. Denied by probation. Would've been a 500%
boost in salary for me.

You are required to present a pay stub each month to your probation officer.
You can not black out the payment amounts (I tried). In effect, these case
managers know exactly how much money you make and what your expenses are
(intake questionnaire). They knew I had a good amount of disposable income and
used that to their advantage.

The money isn't even the worst of it. A buddy of mine is currently on
probation for the same charge (low BAC DWAI) in Colorado. He's 24 and has been
diagnosed with 2 distinct cancers. Probation denied medical marijuana use but
allows him to take prescribed opiates. Well, the prescriptions ran out and
heroin is cheaper than Vicodin. Guess what? He buys heroin now and has the
prescription on file to ignore the results of opiate metabolites in his urine.

My girlfriend is also currently on probation for the same charge (low BAC
DWAI). She's supposed to start University in September (Vet. Tech. program at
a great school). The case managers are intentionally making it very difficult
for her to be able to attend. She's seriously considering postponing her
education for 24 months. That's the real crime.

Do you see a pattern here? Mid 20-somethings being targeted.

DWAI in Colorado = BAC 0.02

DUI per-se in Colorado = BAC 0.04

DUI in Colorado = BAC 0.08

Even 1 drink and they can arrest you. DWAI carries virtually the same
penalties as a DUI ($500-$1000 difference in fine).

~~~
jeffmould
Ugh! I hated to upvote for all those expenses, but that was a great
documentation of the actual costs involved. The real eye-opener for everyone
should be that sadly the majority of those costs are collateral consequences
that are added on so that various for-profit companies can all get a little
piece of the pie.

Ignition interlock is the biggest scam of a for-profit company I have ever
seen. My ex-fiance had to get one in Florida. The place to have it installed
was about 50 miles from our house. They told her she had to drive the car
there herself and present her valid driver's license to get it installed. Not
really thinking about it, I drove her over there. They were about to turn her
away because she wasn't driving, yet her probation condition says she can't
drive without one installed. They did overlook it after some pleading, but
then asked for her driver's license. All she had was a state ID card because
she couldn't get a valid driver's license until she had the interlock
installed. She ended up never getting it installed. Funny story though, we
moved to a different state a few months later and the court order for the
interlock didn't follow her. She was able to get a driver's license free and
clear. Ironically, when we broke up she moved back to Florida and because she
had a valid driver's license from another state she walked right in and got a
Florida driver's license.

But I would say the worse part for you was the job loss. While the expenses
are high, losing a job is a much greater loss in my opinion. I don't
understand the travel portion for some non-violent felonies. I had a similar
clause, ended up costing me a couple thousand in attorney fees to get them to
let me travel to a different county in the same state for an overnight work
meeting. It is completely out of hand in my opinion.

------
brohoolio
It's a group who is lobbying for inefficiency in the recovery and
rehabilitation of our citizens. That is not great. It goes against the long
terms interests of society. I'm not against privatization of services, but
this sort of service lends itself to lobbying for inefficiency which is what
you are trying to squeeze out of the system by engaging the private sector.

------
protomyth
This keeps coming up, and the answer is still the same. People with profit
motives that are not aligned with society tend make for bad actors. The same
article can be written about the prison unions in California and many other
states. It is also a major lobby affecting legislation and not many people
talk about it. Their advocacy of jail time is just as bad as private
companies. Both have a profit motive in the number of people that are in
prison. Both benefit from laws that DO NOT allow alternate treatment. This is
very predictable since both groups profit from the number of people in jail.

Unfortunately, I don't really see legislators changing the conditions so the
profit motive for both groups will be something other than number of people
currently in jail. So, both groups: unions and private companies, will
continue to lobby for laws that are not fair.

My own suggestion is to pay based on capacity and not occupancy with a penalty
(stick) or bonus payment (carrot) for individuals released from jail that do /
do not commit another offense for at least 5 years.

On a second note, all these debtors >> prison schemes should be illegal.

------
yummyfajitas
Notably absent is a comparison showing how large for-profit prison lobbying
actually is. Glancing at Opensecret's top 20 lists doesn't actually suggest
it's very large:

[https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?indexType=i&showYe...](https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?indexType=i&showYear=2015)

[https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?indexType=s&showYe...](https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?indexType=s&showYear=2015)

[https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?indexType=u&showYe...](https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?indexType=u&showYear=2015)

[https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/indus.php?id=W&year=2015](https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/indus.php?id=W&year=2015)

For the last one (by industry), note that the breakdown of subcategories is
weird. The "Other" category includes "Education", "Civil Servants" and "Non-
Profit", all of which would be large enough independently to show up in the
top category.

~~~
hga
Indeed. While I think this is a problem (see my comment on the Cash for Kids
atrocity), I've never ever seen any sign it's a _big_ problem, as in there
being all that many private prisons. Between the political power issues noted
by others that push for government prisons, and people's instinctive
realization that this is dangerous, I see this at worst being a self-limiting
problem. Especially after the first scandal like the Cash for Kids atrocity
surfaces with Republican politicians to blame.

------
girvo
I find it amazing that there is a guarantee of 90% occupancy or higher for
these prisons, and if it falls below the taxpayers foot the bill. Of course, I
find it amazing that "private prisons" are a thing at all.

~~~
arcadeparade
If they were paid based on lowering recidivism rates, for-profit prisons could
potentially work very well.

~~~
danieltillett
The likely outcome of such a system would be for the for-profit prisons to
hire lawyers to get their past "clients" off on technicalities.

How about creating a system where we help people who have been to prison to
avoid going there again - say training them for good jobs and treating them
like human beings when in jail so they treat others the same way when they get
out?

~~~
MichaelCrawford
I once had a good friend who told me he was unemployable because he was a
felon. I don't know what he did but it must have been bad.

I suggested that he learn to write code then hang out his shingle as a self-
employed consultant.

It turned out that he was already quite a good computer programmer as he was
taught how while in prison. But even so he refused to consider self-employment
because he was so down on himself.

While there are many reasons to pursue self-employment, among them is that one
cannot find paying work any other way.

The reason prisons are commonly called "Penitentiaries" or "Correctional
Institutes" is that they are not intended for punishment but to set their
inmates onto a righteous path.

At least that was the stated intention at one time.

~~~
efuquen
You don't have to something super bad to be labelled a felon. Simple drug
possession, not selling but being caught with certain drugs or a certain
amount, will result in felony charges. In fact, a majority of felons in
Federal prisons are drug related, though that percentage is much lower in
State prisons, where there are more violent offenders.

[http://felonvoting.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=0...](http://felonvoting.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=004339)

------
afarrell
> no one is talking about

Is there some way to actually determine what is in the public consciousness?
Because I definitely see this brought up pretty frequently. I'm also pretty
sure that folks know and talk about the internment of the Japanese as well as
the prevalence of domestic violence.

~~~
FanaHOVA
Yep. Especially since Kanye West released New Slaves 2 years ago:

See they'll confuse us with some bullshit Like the New World Order Meanwhile
the DEA Teamed up with the CCA They tryna lock niggas up They tryna make new
slaves See that's that privately owned prison Get your piece today They prolly
all in the Hamptons Bragging 'bout what they made

The ACLU signed up on Genius to annotate this and sparked lots of
conversations. I also see it regularly mentioned every time something such as
Ferguson happens.

~~~
emehrkay
I love how piece could also be peace in that line.

I am reading The New Jim Crow and it is fascinating. The author talks about
how prisons were utilized as a means to get free labor after slavery ended and
how laws in this country were/are designed to keep black people in jail. Good
read so far

[http://www.amazon.com/dp/1595586431/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=...](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1595586431/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=66602494644&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12310126189639521031&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_4wgnuzkc48_b)

~~~
MilkyWayMasta
And piece can be piece of the investment, or piece as in "gun". Love that
verse.

------
jpetersonmn
There should not be a profit motive involved with incarcerating people. That's
just plain immoral.

------
rorykoehler
USA: 25% of the worlds prison population with 4.5% of worlds total population.

~~~
adventured
Fortunately it has begun to decline.

The end of the war on drugs will see the prison population in the US cut in
half in 20 years. Colorado has already seen a radical reduction in arrests for
drug offenses.

~~~
leesalminen
Yet they've seen a large increase in marijuana related DUI arrests [0].

They're just shifting the crime around, not eliminating it.

[0] [http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-
now/2014/06/26/col...](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-
now/2014/06/26/colorado-dui-recreational-marijuana/11391053/)

~~~
rorykoehler
Unfortunately some negative aspects are so heavily ingrained in US culture and
politics (incarceration and bondage being examples) it will take a long time
for things to change. I have been reading about American history recently
(mainly 1800's, gold rush etc) and some of it is very disturbing, almost
dystopian. It has been very interesting to look at contemporary American
culture with this in the back of my mind.

------
justin66
There's an interesting political Rorschach test with articles like this. The
article is unambiguously about prison companies lobbying the government but,
invariably, people start ranting about the prison guard's union and their
lobbying efforts.

I assume this is a flag for conservatism or libertarianism (or just a measure
of the effectiveness of their rhetoric?) rather than a simple inability to
stay on topic or to distinguish between a company and its workers' union. It
is interesting because of how utterly consistent it is between conversations.
It always seems to happen when this subject comes up.

------
rcarrigan87
This article is very poorly balanced and reads like an attack on a politician
rather than an honest investigation into what is clearly a very complicated
issue.

I'd love to see some historical comparisons between the prison industry prior
and the rise of their lobby. Does anyone know of a more in depth analysis?

------
istvan__
We should just call lobbying the same way it is called in other countries:
corruption. The problem with legalizing corruption that corporations gain way
to much power.

~~~
hga
If it's corruption, its Constitutionally protected, in the First Amendment:

 _Congress shall make no law [respecting /or abridging] the right of the
people ... to petition the Government for a redress of grievances._

~~~
MichaelCrawford
In general, the Supreme Court regards commercial speech as far, far less
protected than those of the press or of individuals.

~~~
hga
I don't see that as being at all relevant, since free speech is in the earlier
part of the whole amendment, and "petitioning" people in your Government,
while obviously a form of speech, is specifically and additionally protected
here.

------
smutticus
We should recognize that the constitution still allows slavery as a punishment
for crime. This is as much about slave labor, as it is about the prison
industry receiving money from the public purse.

13th amendment "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a
punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall
exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

Good general overview of prison labor:
[http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/04/04/prison-
labor...](http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/04/04/prison-labor-and-
taxpayer-dollars/)

More detailed account of prison labor in Nevada regarding casinos and
construction. [http://vltp.net/casinos-prison-labor-strange-
bedfellows/](http://vltp.net/casinos-prison-labor-strange-bedfellows/)

The slave market: [http://www.unicor.gov/](http://www.unicor.gov/)

You can even get slave labor to operate your call center:
[http://www.unicor.gov/services/contact_helpdesk/](http://www.unicor.gov/services/contact_helpdesk/)

~~~
FrankenPC
It's more like slave siphoning. Once someone is tagged as a criminal, there
are seemingly endless ways to suck money from them, their families, the state,
and the federal government. Each American indoctrinated into the criminal
justice system in essence becomes that famous Duracell from the Matrix movie.

------
MCRed
If a prisoner is raped, the prison should incur liability, civil and criminal
for allowing it to happen. When guards initiate violence against prisoners
they should be liable as well. This should be the case for both private and
"public" prisons.

If you have a legal system that actually enforces the law everywhere, rather
than giving violent criminals running prisons free reign to brutalize their
charges, you would find that private prisons are more efficient at operating
successful prisons than government ones-- just as private entities are more
efficient (and humane) everywhere else in the economy.

The problem is that we don't have the rule of law in this country. Cops are
not indicted let alone prosecuted when they murder people or steal their
life's savings. Politicians are held even less accountable.

Until this is resolved, fighting over lobbying and who runs the prisons is
like debating who left the barn doors open after the cattle have left.

Prisons should be punishment, humanely, and rehabilitation. So long as they
aren't they are corrupt. And they will continue to drive corruption-- whether
it's a private entity or the warden of prisons building his own fiefdom, the
incentive is to keep more people imprisoned longer for personal profit.

Hence the drug war and all the other corruption that brings.

Frankly, this alone proves that government cannot be trusted with the business
of distributing justice. Which is why I'm an anarchist.

but all you government lovers-- where is the reform? why do you support the
violent brutalization via anal rape and regular beatings that 22 year old kids
whose only "Crime" was being caught with a dime bag of weed are getting?

~~~
omegaham
> If a prisoner is raped, the prison should incur liability, civil and
> criminal for allowing it to happen. When guards initiate violence against
> prisoners they should be liable as well. This should be the case for both
> private and "public" prisons.

Here's the problem - you can have safe, large-scale, and cheap incarceration.
Pick two.

You can have safe, large-scale incarceration by sticking everyone in solitary
and never letting them out of their cells, after all, but I doubt many people
would consider that to be acceptable.

If you want to treat prisoners with dignity and respect, you have to pay for
it. The current model is the result of budget cuts upon budget cuts upon
budget cuts coupled with vastly increased "demand" created by the War on
Drugs. When you're incarcerating everyone for having a dime bag of weed,
you're running a Walmart-style prison instead of a focused rehabilitation
facility. If we, at the very least, decriminalized possession and only went
after dealers, prisons would immediately improve. Fewer prisoners means safer
conditions.

> Frankly, this alone proves that government cannot be trusted with the
> business of distributing justice. Which is why I'm an anarchist.

I see this as misguided. Yes, the government sucks at distributing justice.
But I don't see the _absence_ of government doing any better. You'd
effectively end up with mob rule, which is typically governed by the biggest
asshole. At least with democracy, the asshole has to keep the electorate
somewhat happy. The very first thing that people did after settling the
American frontier was to set up government to deal with justice. It beat
forming a posse to kill your enemies whenever they pissed you off.

~~~
leesalminen
I've always found the anarchist ideology confusing. There was a reason the
early Americans (who were leaving tyrannical governments) formed a judicial
system run by a government.

The people of today forgot how the people of yesterday lived and never learned
why they made the choices that they did.

Unfortunately, I believe that history will continue to repeat itself until we
learn from our ancestors in more meaningful ways.

~~~
omegaham
> I've always found the anarchist ideology confusing.

As far as I can tell, the most coherent philosophy of anarchy is
"participatory democracy." Basically, if you want to be part of a society, you
can take part. If you don't like it, you can leave.

The problem with this is that people are selfish. If I think that plunder and
rape is okay, and the other people in my area don't want me plundering, then
all I have to do is say, "Well, I'm not participating in your democracy! I can
do as I please!"

In response, they have two options - let me be, (which is undesirable, as
they're right next to me, and I'm going to attack them) or stop me by force.
If they do the latter, guess what - they're a government! A crude, _ad hoc_ ,
mob-driven, vigilante justice-condoning government, but a government
nonetheless. And now we're right back to where we started, with the typical
abuse of power, injustice, and so on. Probably with a lot more than what we
started with, as infant governments tend to be messy when dealing with
problems.

So, the only way that anarchy can work is if everyone is benevolent. If that
existed, then the government would be awesome and we wouldn't be trying to get
rid of it.

------
leesalminen
I would like to know how our society expects people to follow laws that are
incomprehensible to the average joe.

I (and most HNers, I'd presume) have the reading comprehension skills to
navigate through legislature. Most do not.

When attempting to show people the actual legislation that is behind what they
heard was a "law", they tend to get glossy eyed and shut down entirely.

IMHO, this is a problem worth solving.

~~~
jeffmould
You are 200% right! We are actually working on something remotely like this.
There are so many collateral consequences associated with various laws. For
example, some states require a waiting period of 1-5 years before you can even
apply to get a barber license if you have certain misdemeanor or felony
convictions. While the judge and society feels it is fair to say hey we caught
you with an pound of marijuana, here's a fine and a year probation to serve.
The true consequence is that you are now a convicted felon and lose many
rights, including some job opportunities or at minimum the ability to obtain
an occupational license as is the case for a barber.

In short, on top of several other services, we are building an overlay to job
search for ex-offenders that will allow them to easily see if they qualify for
a job/occupational license based on their offense. If they don't it will tell
them the criteria if and when they can. It is a tedious process because
sorting through laws and various legislation is not exactly the most exciting
startup concept at 3am and can be open to a wide array of interpretation by
design (criminal lawyers gotta make their money somehow). We don't intend for
it to be the holy grail for information, but at least it will provide a
guideline for job seekers with criminal records to be able to easily sort
through and identify opportunities.

------
vbezhenar
21-st century slavery. Humanity never changes.

------
foolinaround
the earliest form of justice was "eye for an eye" \--> From there, it was
noticed that the first person who lost that eye gained nothing when the
criminal's eye was taken.

From there on it progressed to some variation of "pay for the eye or for the
opportunity cost", in which the criminal had to barter his resources (
existing property, strength, time, etc ) to compensate the victim. This is the
justice described in those voluminous biblical or other laws.

From there on, those criminals who were unable to compensate ( too poor, or
cost too high ) were deprived of something till they were able to or forced to
compensate. This started the concept of 'debtors prisons'

Now, when the concept of compensating the victim ( individual / society /
government ) has been removed, this very act of putting a criminal in prison
is itself a crime.

------
hellbanner
Linked from a related EFF link recently:

[https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/06/facebook-reforms-
inmat...](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/06/facebook-reforms-inmate-
account-takedown-process)

Prisoners denied access to social networking, in a state law & through
Facebook's prisoner profile takedown forms (!)

------
Shivetya
California Correctional Peace Officers Association and Correction Officers
Benevolent Association are playing the same game and are not exactly private
organizations and exert far more influence over individual politicians than
either private corporation does. The first makes political donations across
the country.

We also by no means blame the prison industry; public or private; for this
outcome. Its a government industry through and through, from police, to
prosecutors, public defenders, judges, and even the supply chain benefits.

* besides this is nothing but a Rubio hit piece which tells you it basically is pushed by operatives in the Democrat party, a party which basically does even more in most states to keep people in jail. They even fought Republicans in NY over a law to make it not criminal for a certain amount of pot

------
hellbanner
By "lobby" they mean.. bribe?

------
MichaelCrawford
In the State of California, the very highest-paying job that can is within
reach of most people who do not have college degrees is to be a State prison
guard.

That can be unpleasant and dangerous work so I readily agree it should pay
well however it has resulted in their union being one of the most-powerful
political lobbies in the state. Dozens of new prisons have been built in the
last few decades but only one new University of California campus.

Several years ago a Federal judge ordered the state to reduce prison
overcrowding. It hasn't made much progress.

~~~
bontoJR
> _In the State of California, the very highest-paying job that can is within
> reach of most people who do not have college degrees is to be a State prison
> guard._

This is very interesting, this means there's a big business behind it. I don't
know which are the requirements to be hired as prison guard, for sure is, as
you said, an unpleasant and dangerous work, but I don't get why a prison guard
should be paid higher than a cop, that is always facing criminals, but in more
dangerous situations.

> _Several years ago a Federal judge ordered the state to reduce prison
> overcrowding. It hasn 't made much progress._

This would definitely cost a lot, prison overcrowding, in some countries, is a
big issue. There's no real solution other than build new prisons, hire new
people and transfer prisoners. I read in the past an article stating that the
future of prisons will be mostly private, turned into a real business. I
honestly laughed in a first instance, then reading a lot about the topic, I
figured out that maybe that article wasn't so much wrong after all...

~~~
wisty
> I don't get why a prison guard should be paid higher than a cop

A quick web search shows cops making $100k, while guards make $70k.

I'd imagine the police are more selective though. It might not be "within
reach" of a lot of people (low turnover, and higher requirements).

~~~
p1esk
Cops making 100k? That's like saying programmers make 200k. Average for cops
is 56k. [http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/06/news/economy/police-
pay/](http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/06/news/economy/police-pay/)

~~~
wisty
Sorry, should have specified that it's for California (both cops and guards).
And it might be a highball figure (I didn't search too much).

From your article:

> There's also a lot of range between salaries in different parts of the
> country. In San Francisco, one of the least affordable cities in the
> country, cops get paid the most to reflect the cost of living, with an
> annual mean wage of $99,000. Meanwhile, cops in rural Mississippi earn the
> least: $29,870.

Similarly, prison guards also get paid more in California.

Whatever the case, I think cops do get paid a bit more, but I think it's much
harder to get the job. Police might be penalised a bit for being in a glamour
profession though (there's more people who want to be cops than prison guards
- not many movies have a prison guard as the hero).

~~~
p1esk
Then you should specify San Francisco, not California. There's a big
difference, you know, between SF and, say, Bakersfield.

