Bones in the Machine
the machine needs more bones to grind
strip the flesh from the muscle
boil it down
line them up
into the machine they go
investors unhappy
stocks are up
but profits are down
processed
compartmentalized
into industrial death camps
as margins soar high
The Shortage in the Boardroom
While we stand on frozen parking ramps counting the planes leaving Minneapolis, Wall Street is looking at the same numbers and complaining that they are too low.
This week, private prison giants GEO Group and CoreCivic held their quarterly earnings cal mood was not satisfaction with a job well done. It was frustration. Despite ICE caging over 70,000 human beings, which is the highest number since the agency’s creation in 2003, investors are concerned.
They are worried the machine is slowing down. They are worried that the recent “pull out” from Minneapolis signa dip in production. They want the administration to hit its goal of 100,000 beds filled at any given time.
If you have ever wondered why prisoners keep getting “disappeared” or shuffled endlessly from facility to facility, cut off from their lawyers and isolated from loved ones until families start questioning if they have been tossed into the ocean, stop looking for a grand or fantastical conspiracy.
The truth is colder, blunter, and far more terrifying.
It is a logistics equation. Beds need to be filled to sustain profit margins.
In a system built on for-profit suffering, an empty bed is a wasted asset. The shuffling, the silence, and the speed are not just cruelty. They are inventory management. Companies like GEO Group have historically faced lawsuits over forced labor and inhumane conditions, yet their revenue continues to climb as long as the beds remain full.
And make no mistake. Infinite growth is the only mandate these corporations respect. When they are done processing the marginalized to hit their quarterly targets, who do you think they will come for next?
