Diksha Sundriyal
The fourth season of Prime Video’s ‘The Boys‘ pushes the envelope in every aspect as it takes the blood and gore to the next level, along with the political undertones of the story and its characters. A nefarious scheme is afoot with Homelander and Sage leading charge, but several other people, whether they are Supes or not, have a part to play in the future. One of those people is Tek Knight. Even though he is a Supe, it is not his powers that Homelander needs to make his plan work. It is the sheer number of prisons he owns. Interestingly, a Supe like Tek Knight has invested in prisons, but the concept is not entirely foreign.
The Fictional Vernon Correctional Services Reflects a Dark Reality
‘The Boys’ has earned a reputation for reflecting current political issues through its twisted narrative of superheroes. Still, all the people and places in the show, including the Vernon Correctional Services, are fictional. The private prison belongs to Tek Knight, who inherited it with his generational wealth, through which he makes more money than he ever could as a Supe. The name of the prison comes from his real name, Robert Vernon.
There was a real place called the Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center, though it has no relation to the prison facility in ‘The Boys.’ This prison, named after the warden Vernon C. Bain, was a barge off the southern shore of the Bronx near Hunts Point. In 2014, Guinness World Records named the 800-bed facility the world’s largest prison barge. The barge was decommissioned, and the facility was shut down in November 2023.
The similarities between the names of the barge and the prison in the Prime Video series are coincidental, but the mention of private prisons and their impact on the current judicial system and incarcerations is pretty much intentional. Private companies, like CoreCivic Inc., own a huge number of prisons and make millions of dollars from them. Reportedly, CoreCivic Inc., which owns and operates prisons and immigration detention centers, among other things, is the “largest private owner of real estate used by government agencies in the US,” making it the largest holder of private prisons in the country, through which it generates billions of dollars in revenue every year.
In ‘The Boys,’ Tek Knight’s ownership of the largest private prison system in the country puts him in a unique position that allows Homelander and Sage to concoct a plan to take over the country. The show describes Vernon Correctional Services as a “compassionate rehabilitation” provider to prepare people for “successful community reentry.” Of course, it is anything but that and is a clear mark of how the rich profit from such things and how much power it brings them.
Read More: Did Laz Alonso Lose Weight for The Boys Season 4?
