Unbreaking America: Justice for Sale is chock full of nonpartisan analysis, factual statistics, and unbiased news sources. We're sourcing all the facts in the video below, based on when they occur in the film.
0:13 Even though crime rates across the U.S. are going DOWN, America locks up 7 times more people now than we did in 1970. 7 times.
0:30 How does that add up!? 2.3 million people, that’s how.
0:37 If nothing changes, 1 out of every 17 white men will end up in jail. 1 in 6 Latinos. And 1 in 3 Black men born today will be locked up at some point in their life.
0:47 And, we’re putting women in jail even faster than we’re locking up men.
1:23 This is a 2014 shareholder report from one of the nation’s largest private prison companies. Private prisons are for-profit corporations by the way. They hold close to 10% of America’s prison inmates, and up to three-quarters of all immigrant detainees.
2:04 In the last 10 years, the private prison industry spent 64 million dollars (source, source, source, source) lobbying our government for longer sentences, stricter laws and tougher enforcement.
2:14 This year alone, they’ll make 6 billion dollars in revenue — and you’re paying for it. With your tax money.
2:30 60% of people in jail across America are awaiting trial and haven’t even been convicted of a crime.
2:36 90% of them can’t afford bail, so they sit in jail awaiting trial — probably lose their job — or pay even more money to borrow from a for-profit bondsman.
2:49 Many judges are elected by voters, and they’ve been shown to give harsher sentences as they get closer to Election Day.
2:55 In recent years, 50-60% of political donations for key judicial positions come from lawyers, lobbyists and business interests.
3:04 Massive corporations use inmates as virtually free labor instead of hiring paid workers.
3:09 Remember the BP oil spill. Well guess what, they made inmates clean it up, and most of them African-American. They paid them pennies on the dollar, and then qualified for a $2400 tax kickback for every inmate they used. And surprise, surprise: special interests helped write the laws that created these programs.
3:29 And then there are the prosecutors associations, police unions, drug companies — an $83 billion industry with a grip on our elected leaders just so they can keep turning profits — angling to protect their power, regardless of public opinion.
5:12 Throughout American history, passing state laws has paved the way for the passage of transformative federal laws. If we follow in their footsteps, we can win. And we already are.
5:49 Together, we’ve already racked up more than 100 victories. And in 2018 we passed the most anti-corruption laws in the history of our country.