One man’s overcrowding is another man’s opportunity for profit—at least that is how private corporations have approached incarceration in the United States. The United States’ prison populationexploded after 1971 when President Richard Nixon officially declareda “War on Drugs.” The War on Drugs initially targeted the increased abuse of controlled substances such as heroin, amphetamines, and mixed barbiturates. However, the Reagan administration escalated the War on Drugs and targeted the crack cocaine epidemic in urban communities—a crisis that critics suggest was more likely a panic induced by sensational news media.
