For-profit detention means huge piles of cash laying on the table.

Somebody's going to scoop up a handful or two now and then.

Judges used to screw with people's lives for the judge's own benefit all the time. What kind of historical arrogance does it take to think modern judges are better than past judges? The same kind that decided the post-Depression financial regulations are no longer needed, that the Constitution is quaint.

There is an idea that we are better than people "back then" (for varying values of "back than"). The idea stems from the improved rules under which we live, things like the abolition of slavery. Society is better. People are still people.