We take a deeper look at the US prison population and its dramatic increase during the last quarter of the 20th century, and we ask the question "How did this happen?" Many experts argue that the rise in US incarceration rates is closely correlated with the War on Drugs.

We take a brief look at the War on Drugs, and what led to it, as well as some data and statistics around drug use and crime rates during the 1970s and 80s.

We continue our conversation around the privatization of prisons. This week we take a look at the argument in favor of privatized prisons. The first modern private prisons emerged in the US in the 1980s, and the industry has grown rapidly since then.

Supporters of privatized prisons argue that they offer the opportunity for better innovation and flexibility than government facilities. We look at some examples of this, such as tablets and online education and training opportunities for inmates, as well as GEO Group's Continuum of Care program, which aims at assisting and aiding inmates with training, education, therapy, both while they serve their sentence and after.

Today we begin a conversation around the topic of private prisons. Private prisons are facilities that are privately owned and/or contracted out by the US government for housing incarcerated people.

Critics of private prisons argue that when a prison is run for profit, that it can create incentives to increase incarcerations and extend sentences in the name of increasing revenue. They also argue that private prisons can reduce costs by employing less staff and cutting costs in training, leading to unsafe environments for both the prisoner and the employee.