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Thom's blog
Prisoners Are a Cash Cow For the Rich
Privatization mania is wreaking havoc on our society. Case in point: what’s happened over the past few decades with prison phone services. It used to be that if you were an inmate at, say, the state penitentiary or the local jail you could call your family collect for as little as $4 an hour. But then, states began signing contracts with private phone companies like AT&T, who, in turn, began charging sky-high rates for phone calls between prisoners and their families. A 15-minute phone call that used to cost just a few bucks soon started costing as much as $17, which is a lot to ask from inmates who have little to no income or from their families, who often live in poverty. Of course, while prisoners struggled to find a way to talk to their loved ones without breaking the bank, the phone companies got -- and have stayed -- very, very rich. The prison phone service industry now rakes in around $1.2 billion every year. And it’s not just the phone companies that are getting rich off prisoners’ phone calls. Thanks to so-called “commissions” that can account for as much as 94 percent of the cost of a call, prison phone contracts have become a major source of revenue for state and local governments all across the country. These glorified kickbacks have also become a source of revenue for prisons themselves, and they use them to pay for the healthcare and food services they’re already constitutionally required to provide. In other words, like pretty much every other case of privatization over the past few decades, the rise of private prison phone contracts has nothing to do with “efficiency” or “improving services” and has everything do with making a quick buck for some crony capitalist with a bunch of Republican friends in Congress..
-Thom
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Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... Baltimore Police Admit They Are Part of the Problem (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)
 Be sure to check out our newest video: RESTORATION - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio & Thom Hartmann, directed by Leila Conners / Visit GreenWorldRising.org to check out all the videos: CARBON, LAST HOURS & GREEN WORLD RISING - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio & Thom Hartmann, directed by Leila Conners
Join Thom in London, England - June 22-26, 2015 - for a special week long course - Saving the World From Extinction — How to Create a World That Works for All - follow the link to Schumacher College for details!
Best of the Rest: Baltimore Police Admit They Are Part of the Problem- Rev. Lennox Yearwood, The Hip Hop Caucus 
Geeky Science: How Broccoli Can Heal You
Daily Take: Prisoners Are A Cash Cow For the Rich
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Wednesday's Daily Stack 
Hour One: The Amazing Depth of Republican Suckerdom...
Article: " 2nd Amendment". A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Quote: " Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people" - Karl Marx".
Hour Three: Time for a Progressive Contract For America?
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Thursday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 3-6pm ET
We'll have the latest news and information...everything you need to know to win the water cooler wars...
And, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...
The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"
And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...
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Thom's Poll
Do GOP Politicians really think Obama is going to take over Texas?
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Watch & Listen to Thom
Politics Panel: Will Hillary Stand w/Progressives or Obama on TPP
Politics Panel: The GOP Scam of Running for Prez
How Your Community Is Threatened By Trains
Republicans Want To Undermine the American Revolution
How To Add 62 Million Voters
Who Will Police the Police?
Or watch the Full "Big Picture" Show...
Full Show 5/5/15: Gov’t Keeps Bomb Trains on Tracks for Five More Years
Thom discusses the benefits of automatic voter registration with The Center for Popular Democracy’s Connie Razza, how bomb trains will continue to roll through the country with Public Citizen’s Tyson Slocum, and the White House’s thoughts on police in America with The Daily Banter’s Tommy Christopher. Tonight’s Politics Panel talks Harry Reid’s efforts to stop the TPP, the fast growing GOP presidential field, and how the media is ignoring Bernie Sanders. In tonight’s Daily Take Thom discusses how Republicans want to make America a Christian nation
Why isn't the Media Talking About the Trade Deficit?
Just how has Obama Infringed on Our Rights?
Nebraska Woman Sues All Homosexuals!
The Republicans' "Bread and Circuses"...
The Amazing Depth of Republican Suckerdom...
DNC Announces 6 Presidential Debates...
Caller: Why do Republicans Elect Candidates who Hate Government?
FEC to Billionaires: Do What You Want in 2016...
52 % of Republicans Want to Overthrow the Government!
Mike Huckabee Wants to Keep the Poor Poor!
Reaganism is Literally Killing Us!
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