I bought a prison in the United States.

Harmon didn't seem surprised by Ringo's question, and calmly replied:

"I know you're investigating him, so I'll be frank: the fabric in the factory wasn't purchased by the county government."

Lin Ge frowned:

"What do you mean?"

"That was a supplier that Crawford found himself."

Hamon and Ringo explained:

"The normal procurement process requires approval from the county finance department, but Crawford bought that batch of fabric directly from a company called 'Bayless Building Materials.'"

"The invoice stated that it was for prison facility maintenance materials, but it was actually fabric."

"Belles Building Materials?"

"That's a building materials company in Tulsa, but I don't know the specifics."

Hamon shook his head, looking helpless:

"Although I knew about Crawford's embezzlement, he never trusted me, and I couldn't be bothered to care."

"This is how politics is always done, but I support you. Who doesn't like making money?"

Lin Ge kept this in mind, and when he entered the office, he found a stack of documents on his desk.

At the top was a handwritten list, the handwriting so messy it looked like a doctor's prescription.

"What is this?"

"The prisoner's skill list."

Hamon leaned against the doorframe and lit a cigarette.

"You said you wanted these yesterday, so I had Malloy organize them. He knows the details of every prisoner."

Lin Ge sat down and began to read.

The list was densely filled with names, charges, sentences, and descriptions of skills, some detailed and some brief.

Of the 63 prisoners, less than a third had skills, most had not even graduated from junior high school, and about one-fifth were illiterate.

Ringo noticed a pattern: those with skills were more likely to commit more serious crimes.

Murder, drug trafficking, forgery...

Behind these serious crimes is often a capable person who has gone astray.

This is a dangerous conclusion because it implies one thing:

"The most valuable person in this prison is also the most dangerous!"

Lin Ge circled several names on the list.

Marcus Wayne (Leadership), Craig Miller (Technology), Hector Rivera (Dangerous but with linguistic abilities).

They are the superheroes of this prison, and hopefully they won't join the Avengers too soon.

"It's a pity that there isn't a single medical student among the prisoners."

Lin Ge felt that the prison was currently full of mediocre people, and the truly talented ones had probably already been picked over by other prisons.

We need to find a way to quickly build up the reputation of this prison so that the bigwigs can see the changes in it during the next inspection.

After processing the report, Ringo picked up the phone and dialed the number for the Tulsa Metal Products Factory.

"Who is it?"

The phone rang four times before a gruff voice answered.

"Are you Mr. Harvey Danforth? I am Ringo Chen, the new director of the McLean County Correctional Center."

There was no response on the other end of the phone for a long time, as if they were trying to determine if it was a prank call.

After a while, Lin Ge heard the sound again:

"Which prison? What do you want with me?"

"I heard that your factory recently received a large order that requires outsourcing of stamping parts."

"Who told you that?"

Danforth's voice carried a hint of wariness.

"Tulsa is a small city, news travels very fast."

Another silence followed.

Lin Ge could hear someone shouting on the other end of the phone, the sound of metal clashing, and the roar of some kind of machine.

He was very patient and did not rush the other party.

Have you ever worked with stamped parts?

After finishing some business, Danforth noticed that Ringo hadn't hung up the phone, so he tentatively asked...

"I didn't, but my prisoners did."

"The factory in McLean County has a stamping press that is currently under repair and will be operational tomorrow."

"I estimate that we can produce 600 to 800 standard stamped parts per day."

"...Do you have experience with prisoners?"

Lin Ge answered truthfully:

"There's a former Lockheed mechanical engineer who can instruct my prisoners on their work."

This time, Danforth remained silent for even longer. To be honest, in all his years of running the factory, he had never encountered a business partner like this before.

He desperately needed an outsourcing company to help him with his recent orders, but they hadn't been able to reach an agreement yet.

Those outsourcing companies are asking for way too much!

However, if the order from that major client cannot be delivered on time, the losses will be huge, not only financial but also in terms of reputation.

In this society, once you lose your credibility, you cut off your path to survival.

His factory is in a very urgent situation and desperately needs to complete this order.

Now, a private prison owner has approached him seeking cooperation, which is somewhat unexpected.

Ringo could almost hear the gears turning in his head.

"I don't want to do business with criminals."

Danforth hesitated for a moment, then forced himself to speak.

Ringo then told him:

"You're already doing business with criminals."

"How many of your suppliers are evading taxes? How many of your customers are engaging in bribery or corruption?"

"The only difference is that my criminals are wearing orange prison uniforms, while your criminals are wearing three-piece suits."

A laugh that could almost be mistaken for a cough came from the other end of the phone, a slightly hoarse voice:

"You're an interesting person. I've never heard of anyone selling a prison before."

"Okay, I'll give you a chance. Come to my factory for a face-to-face meeting at 3 PM this afternoon, and bring your quote."

"If your price satisfies me, I'll consider placing a trial order with you."

"make a deal!"

Lin Ge hung up the phone, a slight smile playing on his lips. At least he had taken the first step!

He then sat at his desk for a long time.

The prison doesn't usually have that many busy affairs, and Hamon can manage the internal affairs well.

If it weren't for the real shortage of manpower, Lin Ge wouldn't have needed to do everything himself; business negotiations could have been delegated to his agents.

But he now needs to familiarize himself with these things as soon as possible in order to establish the basic framework for private prisons.

Fortunately, the operating model of private prisons is not much different from that of ordinary companies; they can simply follow market trends.

Lingo needs to focus on winning over the government's audit team to get a better evaluation of the prison so he can secure a better contract from the state government.

Sunlight streamed through the dirty glass of the window, casting a hazy patch of light on the table.

Dust drifted slowly in the light; this was probably the only free thing in this prison.

An hour later, he picked up the list of prisoners' skills again and underlined several names.

Then he stood up and decided to sort out what was going on inside the prison before going to see Danforth.

Those three prison guards who didn't come to work should get an explanation today.