Chapter 282 Puerto Rico

This choice is very correct. If the prison is to be handed over to private enterprises for operation, Sheffield can undoubtedly say that he cannot find a more suitable candidate than himself in the entire United States. In this field, he is the most experienced, professional and reassuring candidate.

After all, the Sheffield family has been operating a private prison in Texas for more than 30 years. Who dares to say that the simple folk customs of Texas today have nothing to do with their family's contribution to crime prevention?

In fact, this is not the entire history of the United Company's prison operation. You should know that Sheffield's grandfather was originally from Louisiana, but he moved away later. In fact, the family's private prison business started in New Orleans.

However, at that time, private enterprises operating prisons had a time limit. In 1848, Louisiana rented its prison to two families for five years. These two families were actually Sheffield's grandfather and grandmother.

Competitors also emerged in the private prison sector. In the 1960s, Mississippi authorized the leasing of state prisons to a private company for management for 15 years. During the same period, Huntsville Prison in Texas was also leased to a joint company. Even when the entire prison was not leased out later, prisoners were often leased to private companies for paid labor.

So for Sheffield, he does not need to express gratitude to the state government. The right to operate private prisons in Louisiana originally belonged to the Sheffield family. It was just that because of the defeat in the Civil War, the United Company was trembling and retreated to Texas.

"Ramon, be fair, is there anyone in this country who is more suitable than me to run a prison? Can you find him?" Sheffield had a pleading look on his face, as if he really wanted to be recognized.

"Really no more!" Ramon Heston paused. He couldn't think of anyone more suitable than the person in front of him.

"So, this matter should be left to me. One day, I might even build a prison trust!" Sheffield put his hands on his waist and said confidently, "I will open prisons on all five continents. Now is just the beginning."

This is such a great dream! Ramon Hess took a deep breath. It was rumored that the concentration camps established by the military in the Philippines were the result of the boss's suggestion. Is this true?

"You don't know the benefits of private prisons. After all, you are not proficient in this business. This will enable our company to better deal with local governments!" Sheffield gave Ramon Hess a look that said "you understand" and said no more.

For example, this can give judges an opportunity to make extra money. Once there are not enough criminals in the prison, they can bribe the judges to give heavy sentences to criminals. At the same time, the death penalty is meaningless for private prisons, because prisons cannot make a profit from a dead person, so they will definitely try their best to prevent local governments from imposing too many death sentences.

This leads to the next question: should the death penalty be abolished? The most practical significance of abolishing the death penalty is as follows: it can show politicians' democratic and fraternal attitude and win votes. It can be used by legal professionals to gain fame and reputation as a stepping stone for career advancement. It can be used by ignorant saints as an effective way to vent their overflowing love. Criminals can reduce the cost of committing crimes, leave a way out for themselves, and live out their old age in peace despite being criticized by thousands of people.

Sheffield felt that he was promoting social progress and giving all kinds of people a chance to show themselves. As for himself, he just needed a little free labor, which was completely negligible compared to the benefits that all parties gained from this matter.

In the first year of the American century, Sheffield renovated New Orleans, bringing new life to the Southern center that was hit hard by the Civil War and welcoming the upcoming election. Then he went directly to sea, just like last time, to find a place to wait and see during the election. However, before that, he gave William Bryan $100,000 in political cash in the name of the United Company to express his consistent support for the Democrats.

This time, Sheffield chose Puerto Rico, which was ceded to the United States by the Spanish government after the Spanish-American War, and took Evelyn and Natalia with him.

"This girl is very beautiful!" Evelin leaned on Sheffield's shoulder and saw that Natalia had just gone out on an excuse. She asked with a complicated expression, "Is this your new prey?"

"Don't say that! Evelyn!" Sheffield kissed the woman's forehead. "We are all like this now, don't talk about these unhappy things. The most important thing about going out for a walk is to be happy, right?"

“Yeah!” Evelin changed to a comfortable position and leaned against him. At least this man had forgotten about her before he had a child. “Why did you choose Puerto Rico this time? You didn’t choose a place farther away, so that when the Democrats ask for help, you can come back easily. Isn’t it easier?”

"Vacation is vacation, and work is work!" Sheffield listened to Evelyn's nagging and whispered, "The two can be combined. Haven't you noticed that I am particularly interested in places with ambiguous status? We've already been to Hawaii, so this time we'll go somewhere closer to relax."

When arriving at the Port of San Juan, Sheffield seemed to have entered another world. Of course, unlike Hawaii, this island, which also has a special status, is not very friendly to the United States of America. After all, it has only been occupied for a short time. Therefore, security still needs to be strengthened.

Looking back at the position of the North American continent, Sheffield had a heroic feeling of occupying Puerto Rico and blocking the North American continent. He wondered if Mr. Chang would have the same idea decades later. Who is stronger, himself or Mr. Chang?

"You have to keep a low profile. If the locals know that I am the boss of the Panama Canal Engineering Company, it will be no small matter!" Sheffield whispered to Evelyn and Natalia after he got ashore. The two girls kept nodding, obviously understanding the seriousness of the matter.

No one knew better than Sheffield what a bastard thing he had done, because the number of workers recruited in New Orleans did not meet the requirements, and Chinese workers were left behind for reconstruction, so there was a huge labor shortage for the Panama Canal project. He even picked up his old business and arrested people from Puerto Rico and sent them to Panama as workers.

Although this matter is difficult to talk about, not all the sins are his own. This was all done with the tacit approval of the federal government. Otherwise, it would not be so easy. Historically, some of the workers of the Panama Canal were captured by the United States from Puerto Rico. Because Puerto Rico had just been occupied and the resistance was still strong, the Roosevelt administration tacitly approved of this.

No matter how many bastard things he did as a slave owner, they were nothing compared to the country. How could he dare to be so shameless as to be compared with the beacon of humanity?

Soon Sheffield arrived at the Governor's Palace of Puerto Rico. The current Governor of Puerto Rico was Allen, who was just appointed by President William McKinley. After two years of military occupation, the federal government felt that it was time to appoint a civilian governor.

"William, how did you think of coming here? You also know that Puerto Rico is very desolate, and we have to guard against these barbarians." Although Allen had never met Sheffield, he knew everything about the United Company here, so he was still a little surprised when he saw the boss of the United Company coming.

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"These barbarians are really barbaric, but this place is really a good place!" Sheffield laughed and took out a few bottles of red wine from his suitcase. "This place is still to be developed, so some things have to be brought from the mainland. But I believe that in a few years, Puerto Rico will be greatly changed, and by then the people here will be less rebellious."

Sheffield has some knowledge of Puerto Rico's history. When Puerto Rico was first occupied by the United States, it was very rebellious. After all, the United States at that time was not as powerful as Britain. This rebellious spirit even lasted until the end of World War II, when an independent Puerto Rican assassinated the US president.

However, as the United States' position as the world hegemon has become increasingly stable, coupled with a long period of comfortable life, Puerto Ricans no longer want independence a hundred years later. After all, the surrounding third world countries living under the shadow of the American daddy may suffer an economic recession if they become independent.

Everyone knows that the United States has always done its best to support allies around its real enemies, but many of its allies are useless and have poor vision. Puerto Rico is a model built specifically around Cuba, just like the Federal Republic of Germany in Europe and Japan and South Korea in Asia.

Fifty years later, the issue for Puerto Rico was no longer whether it was independent or not, but whether it could become part of the United States through a referendum. However, the biggest resistance came from the federal government. This was exactly the opposite of the current situation. Now the United States wanted to swallow up Puerto Rico, and resistance was rising one after another. Later, Puerto Rico wanted to join the United States if it couldn't win, and the federal government repeatedly rejected Puerto Rico's request to join.

"Are you here to inspect the prison of United Company?" Allen asked with great interest. There is also a private prison of the Sheffield family in Puerto Rico, which is currently the largest industry of United Company here. They first capture people and send them to Panama. The private prison here serves as a decoy.

"I'm here for vacation!" Sheffield said noncommittally, "The beach here is really great. If it can be developed, it will definitely attract many people from China. Some of my friends and I are very interested in the land here. Let's see if we can find something that can be developed."

(End of this chapter)