Justin Finch-Fletchley continued talking non-stop.
"Hiring a prison is very lucrative, and the government doesn't lose money..." At that moment, several young wizards around him heard his conversation and became intrigued.
"Are you kidding? How is it possible for them to make money and for the government to save as well?" Ernie Macmillan felt that the situation was beyond his comprehension. "If I'm not mistaken, it's the Ministry of Magic on their side that pays the company to build a prison. So, in this process, the Ministry of Magic is paying all the time, how is it possible for them to save money?"
Ernie Macmillan was a third-year student from Hufflepuff and had a good relationship with Justin Finch-Fletchley. His family belonged to a fairly tolerant pure-blood family, which could be deduced from being assigned to Hufflepuff and befriending a wizard born to Muggle parents. However, he also had distinctive traits of a pure-blood wizard, as he barely knew anything about Muggles; he even thought that the Muggle government was also called the Ministry of Magic.
Justin Finch-Fletchley: ...
"First of all, there is no Ministry of Magic in the Muggle world. Where did you get that from? Secondly, let me inform you of something basic: in the Muggle government, incarcerating criminals is costly, very costly."
All the young wizards present were surprised. So incarcerating criminals was expensive?
No wonder they were surprised. In the magical world, the Ministry of Magic doesn't spend money on incarcerating criminals; at most, they send food to Azkaban, and food is one of the cheapest things in the magical world. Even the Weasley family, known for their lack of money, never deprived their children of food. The meals at Hogwarts were like banquets, mainly because food in the magical world was really cheap and easy to obtain.
"Do you know how much it costs to maintain a prisoner each year?" Justin Finch-Fletchley looked at his peers and smiled. "In the United States, there are two million prisoners, which costs nearly ten billion dollars per year. Perhaps you don't have a clear idea of that amount of money, but I'll give you an idea: ten billion dollars is equivalent to about 260,000 ounces of gold, which is equal to five tons of gold... The worst part is that expenses increase every year, the Muggle government can no longer bear it, hence the emergence of private prisons."
All: Oh!
They might not understand what a dollar was, but they knew what gold was. Now they knew that Muggles spent five tons of gold per year just to maintain prisoners.
"The approval process for private prisons is much simpler and much less expensive. In fact, the use of private prisons can reduce Muggle government spending on prisons by 20%."
In short, let's assume that the government had to spend 100 to maintain a prisoner for a year. In this case, a private prison comes in and says they will take the prisoner and only need the government to pay them 80 per year. Naturally, the government would be thrilled and save 20% of prison expenses this way. As for how much money private prisons can make, that depends on the skills of the prison director.
And since incarcerating criminals is a basic necessity, the government can't simply release the criminals because the cost is too high. Therefore, the government has to pay this sum of money, and for them, saving money is earning money.
Regarding the genres provided in the previous list, translate the following text into English:
As for the ways in which private prisons make money, there are three main ones. First, through government allocations. Second, they have lower administrative costs: the expenses of private companies on various "trinkets" are much lower than those of public companies. Would you dare to report in a private company that a cup of coffee costs $2,000? And third, they really know how to squeeze the residual value out of prisoners. There are no unions in prisons, and incarcerated individuals have no channels of expression, so there are no obstacles to organizing different jobs.
Generating income, reducing expenses, and receiving subsidies, that is the path for private prisons to thrive.
After Justin's explanation, the young wizards finally understood why there were such strange phenomena in the Muggle society.
"How can I open a private prison in the UK?" Tom was interested in opening a private prison, not so much in how much money he could make, but in the act of opening a prison itself, or rather, in the prisoners that would be sent there.
"Well..." Justin seemed embarrassed, "To be honest, Yodel, it's nearly impossible. There's only so much space in England, and so many petty criminals have already been divided among private prisons. It's a saturated market, there's no way for outsiders to get in."
He didn't mention one detail: solid connections are needed to get in. Even in his own family, the opportunity to open a private prison came by pure luck and coincidence.
"Mild offenders? What if I only want serious offenders?" Tom didn't want prisoners for minor insignificant crimes. They didn't deserve to be there. What he wanted were true villains. Tom had a simple idea: he could open his own prison and bring in a group of Dementors to be the prison guards.
That way, he could have the power of a few Dementors in his hands.
With them as guards, Tom wouldn't need to worry about prison escapes. Sirius could escape because he was an Animagus, and Tom's prison was filled with Muggles, so where were the Animagi?
Upon hearing that Tom only wanted serious offenders, Justin frowned at first, but then relaxed. "That shouldn't be a problem. If you manage to convince the officials that the prisoners won't escape from your prison, they'll be delighted to rid themselves of that burden. Serious offenders are very expensive to maintain, they'll be willing to get rid of that responsibility."
Upon receiving this positive response, Tom's eyes lit up. He decided to officially set this plan in motion. The question was, who would lead this on his behalf? Justin's parents? He wasn't familiar with them. Mr. Granger? That wouldn't work. Mr. Granger didn't seem like the type of person who could open a prison.
After much thought, a figure appeared in Tom's mind. Although it wasn't the ideal choice, it was much more reliable than the others.
While Tom chose someone in his mind, Justin gradually changed the subject and began recounting his experiences in the non-magical world, leaving the other wizards perplexed.
"Seriously? Have Muggles reached the Moon?"
"And what is this about a telephone?"
"Do Muggles really...?"
Tom didn't participate in this absurd conversation. He used the time to fill his stomach and then headed to the Owlery to send a letter.
When night fell, Yuri in London received a letter.
He picked up the letterhead from the foot of a white dove that was on the window and opened it to read.
The first sentence of the letter said: [Yuri, would you be interested in opening a private prison? I think we could call the prison "White Dolphin," do you like it?]
Yuri: ???