New film exposes dangers of the 'Treatment Industrial Complex' taking place of for-profit prisons

A new documentary film exposes the "treatment industrial complex" that has sprung up amid the collapsing for-profit prison industry.

As state and federal government phase out for-profit prisons and other detention facilities, publicly traded companies such as Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group look to save their bottom lines with drug treatment, immigration and mental health care facilities.

They have also gobbled up facilities that deliver "community corrections" programs, such as prisoner re-entry services, electronic monitoring and other alternatives to incarceration.

"In other words, prison companies are simply rebranding themselves to market a repackaged product, promoting their business as providing humane treatment and rehabilitation," wrote filmmaker Robert Greenwald. "Instead of alternatives to incarceration, it’s alternative forms of incarceration."

Greenwald's new film, "Treatment Industrial Complex," produced by Brave New Films, shows how these companies are profiting off efforts to rehabilitate drug users and the mentally ill who become entangled in the criminal justice system.

These companies can only make money if they ensnare more Americans -- and hold them as long as possible, said the film's executive producer, Bob Libal.

Watch the film posted online by Brave New Films: