IC Solution And Prison Analysis

Any correctional facility or law enforcement agency requires fiscal responsibility in order for it to continue running. Electricity and water are just some basic necessities associated with running a correctional facility. There are also other expenses like personnel, for example, prison guards, administrative personnel, and the warden. The warden, also known as the administrator, is the person responsible for maintaining the fiscal demands, administration functions, and the organization.

Funding is another major issue facing prisons and prison administration currently and will continue into the future. The operational cost to house inmates must stay with the limits of an assigned budget. Currently a majority of prisons operate under state and federal governments, unlike the past when private prisons were more common. Private prisons were often more cost-efficient because of labor costs, competitive bidding, and less red tape involved with private prisons.

Opponents liken the the high rates and fees to call their loved one in a correctional facility to a tax on the very poor, who can least afford it. Others worry that the telephone providers will raise the cost of intrastate calls to make up for what they lose from the rate caps on interstate

Similarly, since the 1980s there has been the initiation of privatization of prisons, in the United States. Today, for-profit companies operate 264 correctional facilities, housing almost 99,000 inmates (Glans, 2011). The two largest are Correction Corporations of America (CCA) and the GEO Group, which together combined for a capacity of 129,000 prisoners. According to Think progress, in 2010 Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group made over 2.9 billion in revenue (Sanchez, 2011). Equally important, these companies exert influence on public policy, in order to fashion the marketplace environment (i.e. more prisoners/African American males) required to increase its businesses. This is done through lobbying politicians, direct campaign contributions, and political networking.

It is important to understand what it means to contract correctional institutions out to private ownership. Most of the current prisons that have been contracted out run on a similar contract. A private entity either builds a prison to house inmates or is given control of an already built prison. The private corporation is then paid a base dollar amount for each prisoner they house in the facility.

A private prison or for-profit prison is a place in which individuals are physically confined or incarcerated by a third party that is contracted by a government agency. Private prison companies typically enter into contractual agreements with governments that commit prisoners and then pay a per diem or monthly rate, either for each prisoner in the facility or for each place available, whether occupied or not. Such contracts may be for the operation only of a facility, or for design, construction and operation. (Wikipedia)

Private prisons use a system known as an occupancy requirement. Such is a case in which a private company requires a state to keep a prison the company owns filled with a minimum percentage of inmates. This policy is made to stand no matter how crime in the state may fluctuate. Occupancy requirements are common practice within the private prison industry. In the Public Interest group reviewed 62 private prison contracts. The group found that 41 of those contracts included occupancy requirements that demand local or state government must keep the prisons between 80 to 100 percent full. According to the report all the big private prison companies such as CCA, GEO Group, and the Management and Training Corporation try to include occupancy

As the number of prisoners have constantly been rising at an exceedly fast pace, several governments around the world have embraced the use of private prisons. Private prisons are confinements run by a third party, through an agreement with the government. In the United States, it is estimated that there are over 1.6 million inmates, of that there are 8% that are housed in privately-operated prisons. While the other 92% are housed in the public prison system. Private prisons have existed since the 19th century. Their use increased in the 20th century and continues to rise in some states. When a government makes an agreement with a private prison, it makes payments per prisoner or vacancy in jail on a regular basis for maintenance of the prisoners. Privatization became involved due to the fact that prisons were becoming overpopulated. Public prisons contracted the confinement and care of prisoners with other organizations. Due to the cost-effectiveness of private firms, prisons began to contract out more services, such as medical care, food service, inmate transportation, and vocational training. Over time private firms saw an opportunity for expansion and eventually took over entire prison operations. However, now their security, how they treat the inmates, and their true cost effectiveness has come into question

In many of the contracts between private prisons and the state, prisons actually get a guarantee that their prisons will be filled up which mean more money to the company. In the Public Interest, an organization dedicated to high quality accurate research for the public, analyzed 62 contracts from private facilities and found that 41 of the contracts contained quotas. These quotas were occupancy requirements that the

Across the nation, both local and federal prison systems have looked to private corporations to provide beds for

Jails depend on three main resources for operation which include the public, the local government, and the sheriff. Within the local power structure jails must compete for scarce resources with schools, hospitals, parks and other more popular facilities (Mays and Thompson, 1991). Prisons are maintained by the states or the federal government. Running a prison can be costly, so the logic behind prison fees is that

There are three models of prisons that have been prominent in American since the early 1940’s: custodial, rehabilitative, and reintegration. Each model is designed differently based on its overriding goal, and this affects the physical design, policies, and programs that are implemented within each of the models.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons has guidelines and regulations that they must adhere to when it comes to providing healthcare to inmates within the prison system. Although some of the guidelines and regulations vary from institution to institution, the authority given to the BOP when it comes to health services is much the same regardless of which prison an inmate is housed at. The BOP regulates the health care services that are provided to the inmates based upon the needs of such. Most prisons have psychological services available to each inmate along with a provider for other medical services. As other needs arise, the BOP is responsible for providing and maintaining

Prison overcrowding is one of the most burdensome problems plaguing our criminal justice system, but privatization is not the answer. The federal prison population increased by almost 800 percent between 1980 and 2013. (Pelaez, 2016).This is a much faster rate than the most state prisons could accommodate in their own facilities. In an effort to manage the rising prison population, many states began contracting with privately operated correctional institutions to house inmates. There are patterns of abuse, especially against the mentally ill in prisons operated by for-profit companies such as the Corrections Corporations of America also known as "CCA". Many of these for profit corporations have been accused of providing abysmal care to prisoners.

There are two types of institutions in the United States, that is private and government ran institutions. The privately ran institutions are paid for from the states government and commonly a lower cost to the state. The down side however, is that these facilities can choose who comes in as an inmate or employee. The state ran facilities are a little more expensive than privately run facilities.