In my MySpace blog, I detailed a horrific tale of prisoner abuse going on at the Citrus County Prison in Florida where prisoners were forced to drink urine and to eat feces of other prisoners.

One author was apparently more bothered than I was, and wrote a book. And he gets to the bottom of what's causing the abuse.

In a phrase, corporate corruption. I'm sure no one is surprised.

Dr. Byron E. Price, an assistant professor of public administration at Rutgers University in Newark, NJ, wrote a book entitled "Merchandising Prisoners: Who Really Pays for Prison Privatization?" In his book, Dr. Price details some of the criminality behind corporations like Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America (CCA).

The entry level salary for a corrections officer at a public prison is $23,000 a year, while entry level salaries are $17,000 at private institutions, according to the Corrections Yearbook, which is released each year by the National Institute of Justice. Also, the turnover rate for corrections officers in public prisons is 16 percent, compared to 52 percent in private prisons.

"When you think about it, they get a less qualified corrections officer because they pay less and they don't pay benefits," Price said. "They look to cut the bottom line because they want to make sure they maximize shareholder wealth."

Also, private prisons won't treat prisoners with HIV, and the state has to absorb that cost.

In Price's book, he also asserts that prisoner labor is used as a commodity. He cites statistics from a 2001 article released by the American Civil Liberties Union's Drug Policy Litigation Project.

The article said the black male slavery population in 1820 was 783,781 and in 2000, the projected black male inmate population providing free labor was 792,000.

Toby is still working for Massa.

And now other allegations of abuse at CCA-operated prisons are beginning to surface and cover-ups are beginning to be alleged, and CCA executives are even trying to silence people's lawyers.

They do what they do to keep more of us doing the dirty work.

In Babylon.