It was championed by Arizona’s Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, whom you might remember as the gubernatorial candidate who choked on her microphone for 13 seconds in a debate.

She also, in all likelihood, won her race yesterday.

Less than a week ago, Brewer and her ilk were in San Francisco for a hearing on the law. A federal judge’s injunction previously had put it on hold, blocking four of its most controversial provisions. The hearing in San Francisco was to examine this injunction.

Something that was not examined at this hearing was the indisputable fact that the law was written and paid for by private prison corporations.

According to National Public Radio, whose report forms much of the basis for this column, the law originally was drafted at a December 2009 meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. A model bill written at this meeting matches the Arizona law almost word-for-word, and shares the exact same name — the “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act.”

Described by one of its employees as “the conservative, free-market orientated (sic), limited-government group,” ALEC is officially a nonpartisan organization to which you can make a tax-deductible donation.

Its members include state legislators from across the country, as well as Exxon Mobil Corp., the National Rifle Association and the Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA — the nation’s largest private prison company.

Arizona has numerous private prisons, run by CCA as well as the GEO Group and other companies. CCA executives stated in a report last year that they expect “a significant portion of (their) revenues” to come from the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Furthermore, in a May conference call with investors, GEO president Wayne Calabrese is quoted as responding to an investor’s question regarding SB 1070:

“I can only believe the opportunities at the federal level are going to continue apace as a result of what’s happening. Those people coming across the border and getting caught are going to have to be detained and that for me, at least I think, there’s going to be enhanced opportunities for what we do.”

Not satisfied with having two of its cronies on Jan Brewer’s campaign staff, the private prison industry has made donations to 30 of SB 1070’s 36 cosponsors. Twenty-four of these co-sponsors are members of ALEC.

If you find this shocking, you shouldn’t. CCA has existed since 1983, according to its website. It is “the fifth largest corrections system in the nation, behind only the federal government and three states.”

CCA also boasts that it partners with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, as well as “nearly half of all states.”

SB 1070 is hardly the first law drafted by ALEC, and it will not be the last. More or less written by the corporate masters of private prisons, it is exceedingly popular, and unlikely to be struck down if/when it is heard by the conservative U.S. Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, we have one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. According to a 2008 report by the Pew Charitable Trust, one in 100 American adults are in jail or prison.

As the likes of Jan Brewer take power all over the country, the idea that we are a “free” country becomes increasingly ridiculous. If you’ve been drinking Jon Stewart’s Kool-Aid, that surely will strike you as fearmongering extremism.

Consider, however, the words of Stewart himself. At his “Rally to Restore Sanity,” he spoke sincerely of “Marxists actively subverting the Constitution.”

That such a McCarthy-esque line should come from a liberal comedian — whom most of us idolize — tells us all we need to know.

Joel Reinstein is a State News guest columnist. Reach him at reinste5@msu.edu.