Reporter Goes Undercover to Find Out What Life is Like Inside a Private Prison

More and more inmates are serving time in private prisons in America. These are facilities run by for-profit companies such as the GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America. Yet even though nearly one out of every ten inmates is locked up in a private prison, little is known about what actually goes on inside these facilities. Mother Jones Senior Reporter Shane Bauer wanted to know more about what life is like inside of private prisons, so he went undercover for four months, working as a prison guard at Winn Correctional Center, a privately-run state prison in Louisiana. What Bauer saw inside of Winn was shocking: chaos, beatings, stabbings, overall lawlessness, and even an escape.