When private prison companies are successful at the game of political influence, their profits rise, benefiting their stockholders and top management. However, growing evidence shows that many people lose in this political game at the individual and community levels. The policies that private prison companies promote negatively impact communities in terms of costs and public safety. And the increasing use of private prisons due to rising incarceration rates negatively impacts private prison employees. But the biggest losers in this political game are the people who are taken away from their families and communities due to the policies private prison companies promote to increase the number of people going into prisons and the length of time they spend behind bars.