slicedbreddit

Ha - I love the "this segment will acknowledge the existence of sex" disclaimer.

Looking forward to hearing about other risky moves!

Hi Ira, thanks so much for doing this again! The show is a wonderful part of my weekly existence, thanks so much for the incredible work you all do!

I tried asking one of these questions last time but I think got in too late for a response. Maybe I’ll have better luck this time:

1) Do you consider This American Life to be a “brand” that you have to steward carefully? Do you make decisions about what subject matter to include versus not include because of how well they fit with the brand or image of the show?

2) Somewhat related – what do you think is the biggest risk you all have taken with the show (besides making a movie)? Did it pay off?

Private prisons mean that private contractors profit from prison construction and operation. More prisoners = more profits, particularly in a fixed-money contract like the one described above (which is very common). Therefore they have an incentive to (at the benign end) lobby the government for policies that increase the prison population or (at the corrupt end) bribe judges to implement policies that increase the prison population.

In contrast, the government doesn't have a profit incentive to expand the number of prisons and prisoners (although there are some political incentives, like looking tough on crime). Therefore the argument is that the government is less likely than private contractors to push for unfair or unreasonable punishments for prisoners. And, the government doesn't lobby itself (at least not in the way we traditionally understand lobbying).