This week In the Public Interest (ITPI) has published a report exposing lock-up quotas in the contracts between private prisons and state and local governments nationwide. Nearly two-thirds of the prison contracts that ITPI analyzed have an occupancy guarantee. That means governments assure private prisons of inmates to lock up, with the quotas ranging from 80-100% of prison beds. If the inmates don’t materialize, taxpayers are on the hook for paying for the beds anyway — leading ITPI to dub the payments “low crime taxes.”

It would seem that such lock-up quotas are more concerned with lining the pockets of prison profiteers than they are with ensuring public safety. The report says bed quotas often lead to “facilities holding more dangerous inmates than they are designed to house. Or prisons may be filled beyond capacity, leaving a facility overcrowded and a breeding ground for violence. The cities in which these facilities are located may feel the effects of the increased violence, as drug use and gang activity overtake prisons and seep into the community.”

Nor do these lock-up quotas do a service for taxpayers:

If the state decides not to keep prison beds filled, bed guarantee clauses can wreak havoc on state budgets. Numerous examples show that these provisions can cost states millions of dollars. At a time when government budgets are shrinking, cities and states cannot afford the financial risk of prison privatization. In the long-term, governments, taxpayers, and communities cannot afford the damage that these provisions cause to the very foundations of our criminal justice system.

If lock-up quota clauses are disadvantageous to prisoners, public safety, and taxpayers, why have them? Follow the money:

It is no surprise that the two major private prison companies, CCA and GEO Group, have had a hand in shaping and pushing for criminal justice policies such as mandatory minimum sentences that favor increased incarceration. In the past, they have supported laws like California’s three-strikes law, and policies aimed at continuing the War on Drugs…

The Center for Responsive Politics reports that CCA spent $17.4 million in lobbying expenditures from 2002 through 2012,8 while GEO Group spent $2.5 million from 2004 to 2012. Similarly, CCA spent $1.9 million in political contributions from 2003 to 2012,10 and Geo Group spent $2.9 million during the same time period.

So while private prison companies and our supposed representatives are getting rich, our tax dollars are being used to uphold policies that harm everyone else.