Re “Detention centers cash in on Trump crackdown” (March 14): Having read this commentary not once, not twice, but thrice, I remain perplexed and confounded as to the point the author was attempting to convey. His contention that the “system’s” prioritization is revenue generation may be correct if he is defining the “system” as those contractors and businesses who provide these detention services. Is not revenue generation the primary objective of every non-governmental business entity?
He neglects the fact that these service providers do not dictate the numbers of those ordered into detention. Those orders come from our courts and legally authorized administrative agencies.
The author’s conclusion that $165 a day contracted fee for housing detainees is a “prioritization over human lives and freedom” tacitly implies that perhaps a lower fee of, say, $125, would not result in the direct assault on justice of which the author complains.
Mutually agreed upon fees for services between the government and a private entity are in no way an assault on justice.
— John Williams, Fallbrook