Prison Practices In The United States Essay

The private prison system is like every other business, the main purpose of it is to make huge profits. Unlike other business, they are selling product or products. In order for a business to function, there have to be infrastructures that would allow that business to work effectively and efficiently. Another word there has to be a manufacture, a transportation system that carries the products after being made and final there is a store where customers can buy the products. The private prison system follows the formula. The products the private prison system is

Even though people used work programs in the past for personal profit and prison labor has been compared to slavery the programs are successful. Corrupt people are removed from their positions with their exposure by outside organizations. Watchdog groups are necessary for any industry, including the prison work force, and are welcomed. As with any organization, there will always be some bad apples. In American prisons workers are paid for work performed. Presently 80,000 inmates are employed manufacturing blue jeans, auto parts, electronics, furniture, handling reservations, telemarketing, data entry, record keeping, desk top publishing, digital mapping, computer-aided design work, auto repairs and, are paid at a rate of $.21 to $.50 an hour (Whyte).

According to Alex Tabarrok, privately managed facilities can have cost savings of 15-25% on prison edification and 15% on administrative expenses. Likewise, private prisons generate competition and exert pressure towards public prisons. They encourage public prisons to also innovate and lower costs. Other studies (Lundahl et al. 2009, page 392) argue, “prison privatization provides neither a clear advantage nor disadvantage compared with publicly managed prisons.”

The United States prison system struggles eminently with keeping offenders out of prison after being released. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than third of all prisoners who were arrested within five years of released were arrested within six months after release, with more than half arrested by the end of the year (Hughes, Wilson, & Beck, 2001). Among prisoners released in 2005 in 23 states with available data on inmates returned to prison, about half (55 percent) had either a parole or probation violation or an arrest for a new offense within three years that led to imprisonment (Durose, Cooper, & Snyder, 2014). Why are there many ex-offenders going back to prison within the first five years of release? Are there not enough resources to help offenders before or/and after being released from prison.

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

The United States has an incarceration problem that personifies issues throughout the entire criminal justice system. "The United States, with just 5 percent of the world 's population, currently holds 25 percent of the world 's prisoners" (Khalek). This issue runs deeper than just incarceration; it permeates every level of the criminal justice system, from incarceration to probation. Many states have turned to private institutions in an attempt shed operating costs, while also increasing effectiveness throughout the criminal justice system. These acts can include anything from providing treatment programs to full blown management of the entire prison system. Overcrowding at prisons and the rising costs associated with them has led many states to turn to some form of privatization within the criminal justice system. However, privatizing the entire correction system would not be beneficial for the state, from both an ethical and a public policy standpoint.

Privatizing prisons may be one way for the prison population to get back under control. Prisons are overcrowded and need extra money to house inmates or to build a new prison. The issue of a serious need for space needs to be addressed. “As a national average, it costs roughly $20,000 per year to keep an inmate in prison. There are approximately 650,000 inmates in state and local prisons, double the number five years ago. This costs taxpayers an estimated $18 billion each year. More than two thirds of the states are facing serious overcrowding problems, and many are operating at least 50 percent over capacity. (Joel, 1988)” Private prisons may be for profit, but if they can solve the issue of cost then it may be a

Technology has grown substantially over the years as companies continue to compete on who has the better system, especially with our hand held devices, cell phones. As cell phones have grown to become an essential in our everyday life, we humans do not notice our true “Modern Day Prison.” Banksy, a street artist, created a perfectly depicted iPhone and incorporated it into a prison scenario. In which it resembles that in a sense, technology has festered into a prison that we have become victims to.

The first level, minimum security, is basically like a guarded community in a sense. It is similar to college dorms in housing and many prisoners are free to roam around the yard. These types of prisons are often times program oriented for example, many of the prisoners participate in community service and or work-camps. These types of prison are full of opportunity for the prisoners with many ways to

Up until 1969 it was believed that criminals did not have any protection from the law, furthermore no constitutional right were given to any felon. After a person was found guilty of a crime, the norm was to give them "civil death"(CJ2015, p226) After the Warren Court (1953-1969) The supreme court ruled that criminals had the right to file lawsuits for the conditions existing where they were housed. The civil death was also forbidden. In the United States we have different places to housed criminals and all exist for the same purpose: Corrections. However, there are differences in how they are run, who works in them, and the security level they have.

The United States correctional system is a complicated system to fully comprehend. There are many different kinds of facilities one can go to for corrections, and also there are numerous jurisdictions inside the system. There are federal facilities, state, and local facilities. Federal facilities vary in levels from low, to complex in order to be able to assign an offender to their appropriate facility. There are different kinds of facilities inmates can go to, there are Prison Camps, Federal Correctional Institutions, Unites States Penitentiary, Administrative Facilities, and Federal Correctional Complexes.

The United States correctional system is put in place for the time after a conviction to punish the convicted as well as get them ready to reenter society as a productive member. Unfortunately, Langan and Levin (2002), statisticians with the Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that 67.5% of prisoners released from prison are arrested again within three years time. Obviously, there is some sort of breakdown in the correction area of the criminal justice matrix. Even though there is overcrowding in the current prison systems, the public needs to look at options to remove criminals from the system and give them every opportunity to remain productive members of society once they are released. The

As shown in “Prisons, Privatization, Patronage” by Paul Krugman, privatization can have negative consequences. These privatized prisons are understaffed and poorly run. There are have been convicts escaping prison and minor offenders suffering in the hands of other prisoners (Krugman). These prisons also show very little reduction in costs, as opposed to state funded prisons and the little savings come from understaffing and underpaying their employees (Krugman). In this case, privatization was used for the benefit of private companies who are making a profit, as well as the government who does not have to invest money in prisons. However, this is done at the expense of those receiving the service.

Following the privatisation of the prison industry in the 1970’s, the prison population of the U.S. has increased by an estimated 500%. Despite this, statistics suggests that overall reported crime rates have remained relatively stable. (Fortner, 2013). A question is raised then, as to why incarceration rates would be on the rise despite little change in crime. This essay will attempt to answer this question and to make sense of the Prison Industrial Complex. It will also argue that the privatisation of the prison industry has resulted in the exploitation of incercerated offenders in order to increase capital. This will be achieved through a discussion of the background events which led to the emergence of the complex, followed by a description of the phenomenon itself. Following this, the intended and resulted outcomes of the Prison Industrial Complex will be analysed in order to aid in understanding the complex. Ultimately, this will lead to the conclusion that the Prison Industrial Complex can be understood through the devastating outcomes on the North American Society, with the needs to increase profits outweighing the need to rehabilitate offenders.

In regard to the Immunization study, I prefer to remain silent (I would need to do more investigation in order to comment about this matter). But in regard to studies where people falsify data due to financial interest, it may perhaps led to the most harm than the Stanford Prison study for the reason that the wrong results from a study may harm more people than what the Stanford Prison study did. I am not saying that just because only few people were affected in that study, it is insignificant and their suffering does not matter.