Prisons are already getting paid based on their capacity and not occupancy, so sentencing would not affect their bottom line the same way public prisons would be.
Yes it would, capacity is created to match expected occupancy, increases in sentences pre-empt the contracting of greater capacity for the expected increase in occupancy. All but the smallest increases in sentencing duration equate to additional prisons, not merely the picking up of some slack in existing ones.
Was actually just reading today that several states are being "sued" by private prisons because they have guaranteed minimum occupancy clauses that the states are not "meeting"
