Sort:  

I didn't link up to every subject they touched on (because yeah their links weren't working) but the ones I did I found that states have state prisons and private prisons. When a state decides to try privatization those prisons make requirements of occupancy. That only makes common sense if someone is going to invest their money to operate a prison. That doesn't mean that law enforcement or courts are out hunting down quotas to keep prisons filled all that means is that they require the states to keep their prisons at certain occupancy level over the ones run by the state. Meaning prisoners get sent to those prisons over state run prison to maintain occupancy to make it profitable for them to run them. This sometimes comes at a disadvantage to state run prisons who for instance would be heating and keeping the lights on for a prison that is only half full because prisoners are being sent to private prisons under contract obligations.

The police do not get 153.00 per se from the government for each arrest. If something like that is happening it is because the state's top prosecutors, whom are the one's the money actually goes to, determine what the guidelines must be in each state for police department to qualify. So if a prosecutor says I will pay 153.00 for each arrest then that happens but for the most part those grants end up being used for staffing levels of understaffed police departments or equipment for departments. It's up to the prosecutors to write the grant that is submitted to the government, each year they have to explain what they did with the money the year before, the only real requirement is to show it went towards law enforcement not specific category requirements that would have to include a number of arrest.

The reason so many minorities end up in prison is because statistically blacks engage more in dealing the stronger drugs like crack, heroin, meth, etc., to which those drugs are a higher priority for law enforcement, they don't use those drugs as frequently as whites but it's usually not the users the police are after it's the dealers. Reason for so many low level marijuana arrest isn't because the police are on the look out for low
level pot smokers it's just that people who encounter the police for reasons other than drugs and end up getting arrested end up being searched and a small amount of marijuana may be found on them. That would add a additional charge to any number of reasons for having contact with police, could be drunk driving, speeding while under the influence, creating a disturbance, having found to have a warrant for tickets or child support after a encounter with police. There's so many variables to those scenarios.