This story really disturbed me.  The following is an email I sent to the president.  I sent similar ones to my members of Congress.

Dear Mr. President,

I read with horror of the case in Pennsylvania where two judges sentenced juveniles to imprisonment for trivial offenses, in return for kickbacks from private prison companies.  Here is a link to the New York Times article.

While obviously the individual evil involved in this case is immense, it made me think of the truly twisted incentives involved in running private prisons and youth detention centers.  Putting prisoners in the hands of profit-maximizing companies is an invitation to the worst kinds of abuse.  The entire system of private prisons practically begs for corruption.

I'm a strong supporter of yours, and contributed money and days of my time working for your election.  I had hardly considered this issue before, but I have been shocked into action.  I'm not sure what the federal role is, but I urge you to do what you can to eliminate private prisons in the United States.  At the very least, private federal prisons should be eliminated as quickly as possible.  I would also suggest that federal criminal justice funds be denied to states and localities that use private prisons.  Something has to be done.

The private imprisonment of juveniles is particularly disgusting.  The cases described in the article sent chills up and down my spine.  If not for luck, it could be your kids or mine.

Thank your for your time and effort.

Sincerely,
Dan Edelstein