Beyond Bars recently teamed up with the ACLU and The Nation magazine on a video series showing who's profiting off of mass incarceration in the United States. It's called Prison Profiteers. American taxpayers don't get much out of having the biggest prison population on earth, but a handful of corporations and other institutions do.

Who are the prison profiteers? We've narrowed our series down to six:

• Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA, a private prison company. It makes more money than any other corporation from locking up inmates.
• GEO Group, a private prison company. It's second only to CCA in industry revenues, and second to none in its record of abuse and neglect.
• Corizon, a medical company for prisons. It makes money by avoiding providing care.
• Global Tel*Link, a phone provider for prisons. It's jacking up prices on vulnerable families.
• The bail industry. Its business model is to exploit those who can least afford to pay bail.
• Law enforcement. Some cops seize people's money and property without proving wrongdoing.

Go to PrisonProfiteers.org to see the series. I bet you knew something shady was going on in our justice system, but some of this stuff is truly staggering. Share your favorite video with family and friends to spread the word about the vested interests that want to keep our dysfunctional criminal justice system just the way it is.