Huffington Magazine Issue 73 | Page 41

PRISONERS OF PROFIT on beds. The harsh conditions confronting youth inside YSI’s facilities, moreover, show the serious problems that can arise when government hands over social services to private contractors and essentially walks away. Those held at YSI facilities across the country have frequent- HUFFINGTON 11.03.13 In Florida, where private contractors have in recent years taken control of all of the state’s 3,300 youth prison beds, YSI now manages more than $100 million in contracts, about 10 percent of the system. Its facilities have generated conspicuously large numbers of claims that guards have assaulted Those held at YSI facil