Pros And Cons Of Private Prisons

The United States is regarded as a country of innovation and progress. However, the prison and disciplinary systems in the U.S. fall short in several aspects. With the highest incarceration rate in the world, one might expect American prisons to be prepared for providing quality care and rehabilitation for inmates. Unfortunately, this is not the reality - with a growing number of privatized prisons, the quality of life for inmates and their families is dissipating. The U.S. prison system is in desperate need of reform; closing down private prisons will help in alleviating monetary pressure, reducing abuse reports, and lowering the rate of reincarceration in individuals. Prison reform should be seen as a priority, as nonviolent offenders are suffering far more than they should, and are purposely conditioned to be reincarcerated after their release. Private prisons are rapidly growing in the U.S. to keep up with a growing number of inmates. With the rising number of prisoners, prisoner abuse levels are also rising exponentially. This is due to the fact that private prisons are a booming industry that exploits prisoners for profits. Private prisons may seem beneficial at a glance; however, they enforce lax regulations and are notorious for overcrowding and “barbaric” conditions. Prisons should rehabilitate nonviolent offenders in

Private prisons do little to improve local economies. By all means, “the cost benefits of privatization have not materialized to the extent promised by the private sector. Although there are examples of cost savings, there are other examples in which such benefits have not been realized”(Austin 2001, 39). Furthermore, private prisons offer meager cost savings that stem from a reduction in labor-related cost (Austin 2001). On one hand, proponents of this industry say that private prisons are more cost-efficient. On the other hand, opponents say they are not cost-effective. Indeed, private prisons do save money in some respects. However, these savings come with hidden costs that make them irrelevant. Moreover, the proliferation of private prisons has had a negative effect on states and local governments. Rural areas in particular are drastically affected by private prisons. In fact, “increasing evidence suggests that by many measures prisons do not produce

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

Many people, since the early 1990s, when the privatization of prisons became popular, have had concerns that these companies would be more worried about profit than the prisoners human rights. Since then, private prisons have only increased in popularity. The original reason private prisons exist are cash strapped states were looking for an alternative to state and federal facilities to incarcerate inmates affordably. It is now a 5 billion industry. Many states pay millions of dollars each year to the private companies. Colorado has the largest number of private prisons in the country. “The state had not saved money by contracting out minimum security beds, and that more money is actually spent on private medium security beds than would be spent in a publicly operated institution.” (Mason) This study, performed in 2010 in Arizona, showed that they were not saving and were actually spending more money on the private facility than the public. The U.S. General Accounting Office, in 1996, went over five different research studies and came to the conclusion that there was no real evidence that prisons for profit saved the government and the general public money. Private

The major selling point for the privatization of prisons is cost reduction for states. It’s argued that private prisons can reduce costs by millions because the upfront high costs to build new prisons do not have to be spent by the

Private prisons do save states money, at least if we only look at what states pay out contract wise. Finding real dollar amounts for what states are paying is not an area that these businesses are transparent in. Saying that they save money is only true if this is viewed as these inmates would exist without the lobbing that is done by these companies. Considering the millions that get thrown at lobbying to make more acts criminal and carry larger sentences I do not believe it is fair to say that we would have the inmate population that we do if private prisons did not exist. Public prisons do not contribute to any political cause; they exist solely to house offenders sentenced to time by the courts and must operate off of a budget that is dictated by the state. There is no incentive for public prisons to lock up more

As of 2005, there are over 107 privately operated secure facilities contracting to hold adult criminal offenders in the United States (Seiter, p. 164) According to Richard P. Seiter (2011), “A private correctional facility is any correctional facility operated by a nongovernmental agency and usually in a for-profit manner that contracts with a governmental entity to provide security, housing, and programs for offenders” (Seiter, p.93) However, there is much controversy over whether private prisons are helping to have more cost effectiveness and efficiency than a public prison system. Private prisons at first seemed to be a well-rounded idea. Despite, the initial

Private prisons were first implemented in order to combat the effects of overcrowding and the increasing cost of maintaining public prisons (Mennicken, 2013; Jones & Newburn, 2005). While private prisons have been successful in that regard, there are various other concerns, ranging from prison and punishment being a job of the state to the corporate approach private companies have towards prisons. By their very nature, private companies run for profit, and those that own prisons work the same way, unlike state owned prisons whose main purpose is punishment and rehabilitation. In order to combat this problem, the state introduced strict guidelines that private prisons had to follow, any step out of the line would be dealt with a fine or the retraction of rights to the prisons (Mennicken, 2013).

The United States have been using private prison for many years. The use of private prisons has steered up a huge controversy worldwide. The main two private prison companies are CAA and the Geo Group, Inc. The idea for the use of private prisons is that the government will save more money. However, the evidence has been mixed over the years on whether the use of private prisons saves money or not. There have been cases where private prisons have cost more than state prison. Also, the use of private prisons has been associated with various cases of health issues and acts of violence. This problem qualifies as a criminal justice issue because of the amount of money that private prison companies are receiving from the amount

One major reason for the increase in privately operated prisons is that the private sector claimed that they could provide more services and better services at a lower cost than that of state operated prisons. In the 1980s when corrections started operating under the private sector, their claim of more and better for less did not appear to be accurate. According to Charles H. Logan who examined the costs of public versus private corrections in 1990 “Private prisons will not

I am writing this memo in response to a request to analyze the benefits and disadvantages of privatized prison systems. With the present economic environment, it is important to explore all options that could reduce the state’s deficit. This research project will explore the cost benefits to the privatization of California’s prison system, in comparison to other cost saving options. It will use statistics from other states that use private prison systems, as well as federal detention facilities that are privately managed. The purpose of this analysis is to reduce spending as a whole, and to not place a financial burden on local governments. It is also important to note that prison sentences

As can be demonstrated and exemplified from the statistics, it argued that, from approximately 300,000 inmates during the 1970 to above 2.3 million today, that to end, America can now account for having 25% of the world’s prison population (Jing, 2010; Price and Morris (2012). This gave room for the private prison industry to evolve into what it is today, due to the vast increase of prisoners. Worth to mention is that private prisons have become a cheap and easy solution to the continued increase in prison population which has caused social, legal, health and humanitarian challenges for the government of the united-states. Jing, (2010) argues that the major objectives for the privatization for the government is to reduce overcrowding, efficiency

Nonetheless the minimal benefits that could originate from the privatization of prisons is outweighed by the extensive draw backs. The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas reveals that the apparent savings and economic benefits of private prisons is drastically dramatized, “While you often hear the opposite, for-profit prisons do not save taxpayers money. State governments end up paying more because for-profit prison companies routinely underestimate the cost of oversight, healthcare, and background checks in their proposals. Studies have shown that building for-profit prisons results in no economic benefit to local communities” (ACLU of Texas 1). Furthermore the ACLU of Texas goes on to explain that, “the Safety and Conditions of these for-profit facilities are often more dangerous and have worse conditions than state-run facilities. They are found to have 50% more inmate-on-staff assaults and 2/3 more inmate-on-inmate assaults” (ACLU of Texas 3). Finally the ACLU of Texas explains that there is a gross lack of transparency, “For-profit prisons are exempt from many open government laws that apply to state-run facilities and do not have the same reporting requirements as state-run facilities. As a result, it is more difficult for a community to learn about what is happening inside private prisons, including abuse, unsanitary conditions, and misuse of tax dollars” (ACLU of Texas 2).

The prison system in America is far from perfect. When Reagan took office, the idea of private prisons took off (Chang & Thompkins, 2002). With the increase of private prisons in America, comes the increase of incarceration rates. Private prisons were designed to keep money in taxpayers pockets; therefore, private corporations came into play to make money in the prison system (Chang at el., 2002). Chang at el. (2002) states, “ Corrections Corporations of America (CCA) is the largest correctional corporation in the US, thus it holds 50 percent of the U.S market”. The capacity of private prisons has increased 300 percent in the last 30 years (Chang at el., 2002). Additionally, private prisons operate at 90 percent of their capacity (Chang at

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