PRI Chapter 3: America Only Believes in Money

Lind didn't wait long. Just after washing his face, guard Andy Cock knocked on the office door.

"Come in." He wiped his hands and sat in the boss chair.

The door was pushed open, and the lean Andy with withered yellow hair walked into the office, followed by the bearded George.

"George, go take care of your business first." Lind immediately had George leave without another word.

George didn't expect the warden wouldn't need his help. He looked at Andy, then at Lind, and finding no one paying attention to him, walked straight out of the office.

Closing the door, he muttered, "Damn, idiot. You'll know my importance once you screw things up."

Meanwhile, inside the office.

Lind gestured for Andy to sit down.

After he sat, Lind wasn't in a hurry to speak, but first looked at his attributes.

[Andy Cock]

[Identity: Guard]

[Rating: 17 (Level E)]

[Loyalty: 40]

[Skills: Intermediate Driving, Basic Combat, Basic Marksmanship]

Unsurprisingly ordinary, about the same as George.

Lind reasonably suspected that none of the guards old Edward had hired could reach Level D.

However, his loyalty was much higher than George's.

Even Black people picking cotton and getting whipped would probably have higher loyalty to their slave master than George.

Lind snorted coldly in his heart.

While he was thinking, Andy sitting on the sofa was also quite conflicted.

In fact, his proposal to strike yesterday was just a moment of heated anger.

After all, those prisoners looked really fierce.

Daring to fight and struggle, looking like they didn't care about their lives.

They were completely beyond what a rookie guard like him could intimidate.

Even with a baton and pepper spray in hand, he couldn't help but feel apprehensive.

Not just him, other guards had similar thoughts.

So after Andy proposed the strike, everyone echoed him, even pushing him to become the leader.

Thinking of his colleagues' encouragement and praise last night, Andy, who had been somewhat uneasy, gradually gained confidence.

He thought the prison's salary was really too low, completely inconsistent with the job difficulty.

If the salary could be higher, even just one more dollar per hour, perhaps the warden wouldn't have been pushed downstairs.

At least Andy would definitely be the first to step forward and protect the warden.

However, the deputy warden had just said on the way that the warden seemed to plan on firing him.

What a joke!

Why fire only him?

He wasn't the only one who said they wanted to strike!

If the warden really did this, Andy swore he would definitely take other guards to the guards' union to report him and make him pay the price.

Just as he was extremely conflicted and about to speak, Lind spoke first.

"Andy, are you interested in becoming the guard captain?"

"What, what?" Andy, whose train of thought was interrupted, looked at Lind blankly.

"I'm asking you, are you interested in becoming the guard captain?" Lind patiently repeated.

"Of course, Mr. Warden!" Andy didn't expect to hear good news. This was completely different from what George had said.

He was just puzzled why he would be made captain.

Seeing this, Lind smiled and explained, "I saw you perform very bravely in front of those prisoners yesterday. Now that the prison is just getting on track, it's time to use people. I want you to be the guard captain and set an example for everyone."

God!

He got promoted?

Andy couldn't believe it, especially thinking about how he almost couldn't hold his baton steady after the warden was pushed down the stairs.

Didn't the warden see his embarrassing appearance?

Or maybe he didn't perform as poorly as he remembered?

Otherwise, why would other guards elect him as the strike leader?

While secretly pleased, Andy was also somewhat worried.

His promotion was a good thing, but about the strike...

Lind seemed to see his hesitation and continued, "Of course, after you become captain, your salary will also increase to $8 per hour."

"Thank you, Warden." Andy thanked him profusely.

He had proposed the strike for a raise, so achieving it now was naturally a good thing.

"However..." Lind drew out his voice, and after Andy looked over, he showed a troubled expression.

"As you know, the prison's situation is terrible. Those damn prisoners actually dared to riot. Once something like this happens once, it will definitely happen again. So I plan to bring in a batch of equipment to arm you and protect you."

"But my father incurred a huge debt to build this prison, and we have to repay hundreds of thousands of dollars every year." Lind looked distressed.

"And if we can't repay it, the prison will be shut down or even sold off."

"You wouldn't want to lose your jobs either, would you?"

Lind looked at Andy.

Andy quickly nodded, "Of course not, Warden."

Lind smiled, "Then Andy, privately help me persuade the other guards to wait a bit longer, okay? Let me handle the prisoner situation first, then we'll talk about raises. How about it?"

Andy hesitated somewhat. He didn't know how the other guards would react when he brought this news back.

Lind understood his thoughts and said, "Don't feel pressured, Andy. You just need to honestly tell others the news. If anyone is really dissatisfied, just write it down and tell me when you have time. I'll help you handle it."

"Okay." Having received benefits, Andy's position was now completely on Lind's side.

"I'll make sure all the other guards understand your difficulties."

His initial demands had been forgotten.

He now only wanted to tell his wife this good news and let his two children know.

After seeing Andy off, Lind crossed his legs.

He had thought Andy, the guy who proposed the strike, would be difficult to handle, but he was easily turned around.

He had even prepared several different talking points beforehand.

Lind smiled, then shifted his attention to the next matter.

The prison's future profit model.

In fact, what he had just told Andy about not making money was just deception.

Although private prisons couldn't make money as fast as internet company stocks rose, they were still a blue ocean industry with annual revenues of tens of billions of dollars.

Like the current contract between Border Prison and Texas, the prison received $42 in government subsidies for each prisoner held per day.

This was just the price for minor offenders.

For serious criminals, they could get $87 per day in subsidies.

Border Prison currently held 42 criminals, including 38 minor offenders and 4 serious criminals.

Calculated, the prison could receive over $50,000 in government subsidies per month, which was $600,000 per year.

If all 300 beds were filled, he could receive $4.53 million in government subsidies annually.

But this was actually just a small part of the prison's profit structure. The real profit came from assembly lines.

Such as manufacturing military helmets, ammunition belts, paint, headphones, microphones, and other items.

According to statistics, 100% of America's military helmets and 93% of paintbrushes were produced in prisons.

So as long as he could control the prisoners and make them work on assembly lines, Lind could make loads of money just sitting in his office.

As for prisoners' human rights?

Don't joke around.

In a place where an 8-year-old child could be imprisoned for months just for jaywalking, what human rights existed!

In America, there was only one thing.

Money!

With money came power!

So-called freedom and democracy were all built on money.

As long as Lind was rich enough, he wouldn't need to consider the law and could even make the law work for him.

Right now, the most important thing was to sweep away all obstacles to making money.

Whether it was guards who paid lip service while opposing him, or those arrogant prisoners, Lind would deal with them one by one.

He swore he would turn Border Prison into a nightmare for all criminals.

Even if Jesus came, he'd have to take two lashes before leaving.

He said so!

With burning thoughts, Lind put down his pen, decisively opened the panel, and selected the ten-pull with deterrence value.

He couldn't wait to see what good things he could draw!

[NEXT CHAPTER]