What incentives do private prisons have to keep people incarcerated/locked up?

So basically its called a contract to house so many inmates. In exchange for the commitment to house those inmates, the state pays the company an agreed upon sum.

The beds are made available. The state is responsible to keep the beds full. If the state fails to fill all the beds, it doesn't save any money. But the private provider MAKES the same amount.

The company typically contracts to provide the beds for inmates that are lower security risks to escape. An inmate with less than three years to do will not complain about the food, and is less likely to escape.

So if anything the financial incentives that are written into the contract benefit the state that is responsible to house all the bodies the Judges order locked up.

Now what about Judges making money off sending inmates to a private prison?

That is a cute one. The examples I have found so far deal with Juvenile Judges ordering a youth into a specialized program that is privately run.

When a Judge sends someone to prison he does NOT order the person confined at a CCA prison he orders the person committed to the state Department of Corrections. The State DOC then decides who ends up at a contracted facility. So Judges aren’t the ones kicking customers their way. The state is pushing hard to keep those private beds filled so as to get the tax payers dollars worth out of the contract.