The short answer? Thousands of dollars in campaign contributions. The governors of both Idaho and California have both taken years of campaign donations from private prison contractors in their respective states; in both cases, the contractors in question have earned lucrative contracts or favorable negotiations in 2014 alone.

Even legislators dedicated to prison reform have taken donations from private prison contractors, leading Peter Cervantes-Gautschi, the executive director of Enlace – a racial and economic justice organization that runs a campaign to divest from private prison industries – to believe that “no matter what happens [on November 4], the private prison industry will be well wired to get more contracts.”

Will private prisons benefit in the midterm elections? Read more at truth-out.org