The Geo Group : A Case For Human Rights Watch

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

Today, the private prison industry is big and extremely profitable. The industry is dominated by two large companies, Corrections Corporations of America (CCA) and the GEO group. The annual combined revenues for both companies amount to over $3 billion while their top executives get compensation of over $3 million each. However, the way these companies operate is wholly unethical.

It seems to me that we need to be better at filtering the system instead if incarcerating everyone no matter the offense we should start seeking other alternatives. We should incarcerate those who are an endangerment to themselves and society. For the others we should try to get them treatment not just throw them in jail because that won’t end the cycle. When people are released they aren’t prepared for society. They don’t have anything just the clothes on the back and no money. The only way most released inmates know how to get money is to steal it. It’s very difficult for a person with a felon to get a stable job. Another flaw with releasing inmates is that when they released there are many regulations and rules they have to abide by that are very difficult. You have to pay a certain amount each month. You have to report, you have to employee, and you may have to stay in one place. These technicalities are what keep sending people back. These people when they get pout have nothing. How can you expect them to pay

While it’s cheap to put someone on probation or parole, it is expensive to incarcerate a person for a year. It costs $45,000 to house and feed an inmate for one year. “There are approximately 1,325 state prisons and 84 federal prisons in operation across the country today”. (Schmalleger pg 390) If you have 2000 inmates in one prison then that will cost roughly $90,000,000 to support those prisoners for just one year and that is only for one prison. From 1991 to 2007, there was a 37% decrease in the national crime rate and a 62% increase in the rate of imprisonment. The Public Safety Performance Project released a report that predicts the nation’s prison population will rise to more than

In the 1970’s, the numbers of offenders began to increase, which prompted Florida to authorize the first use of private probation in the country. By 1991 Georgia had passed legislation which allowed private entities to supervise misdemeanor offenders. The growth of the private industry in was nearly instant, with courts subcontracting their misdemeanor probation cases in order to ease the burden on state probation officers. Those who support privatization argue that the adaptability of private agencies means that the services they provide can be better suited to probationers’ needs. In ideal circumstances, private agencies could theoretically serve offenders better than state agencies. Opponents of privatization argue that private companies are profiting from poverty, and that the effects are much more damaging than state run probation.

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

The major cause of mass incarceration in the United States is Bail. Recently there are several reforms that were passed, and there are several proposals under consideration to fix this issue. A lot of people that are incarcerated toady committed low offense charges. Hence, we need a fairer, and more effective justice system so that more people could walk free rather than being locked up. With that said, bail is used today as an entrapment, which opposed its original purpose. Most importantly, of the people that are in jail, 60 percent haven’t been convicted of anything. As we can see, mass incarceration makes our country worsted off, and we need to do something about it.

Corrections are an important part of the criminal justice system and they work in concert with law enforcement and the courts. Citizens in the United States expect criminals to be monitored, with some in secured facilities, so they will not fear of becoming continual victim of crime. To illustrate this expectation further, there are 2.5 million individuals on probation or parole and 1 million individuals in jails or prisons (Morris & Tonry, 2013, p. 370). However, does every individual confined in jails and prisons still need to be there or is there a better way to deal with certain special prison populations? Due to the large number of prisoners within the correctional system, certain special populations of inmates do not receive the rehabilitation or care needed to successfully reintegrate back into society. Additionally, these special populations create an undue burden on the correctional system in terms of financial costs associated with their confinement. There are changes that can be made to the criminal justice system to accommodate special populations of inmates. This paper will explore the alternative

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.

At the beginning of the 21st century, with the globalised world, there is an increase in policies which better protect human rights, especially women and children. However, exploitation and abuse are still daily happening. According to The National Child Labor Survey, 3.3 million children between the ages of 5-14 in Pakistan have to work in farms or factories many hours per day which is hazardous and low-paid. However, this issue is still ignored. (Ahmad et al. 2011). Therefore, whereas most believe that globalisation will help improve both the economy and living standards, the others

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

Rules of probation are normally lenient and prisons are both strict and expensive, and normally prisons turn humans into worst kind of humans. Despite being expensive prisons are necessary to keep community safe, no matter what their impacts are

Corporate officials often have conflicting motivations to run these prisons and sacrifice the quality of care in their organizations in order to make a profit. A majority of the problems arising in private prisons is due in part to lack of government oversight and insufficient accountability. In addition to inadequate accountability, for-profit prisons hope to generate the greatest possible profit, and do this by any means necessary. Some will argue that the savings to the taxpayer is worth it, however the current data available clearly says otherwise.

The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights stands as the current gold standard for every individual’s rights. Focusing on culture, one may see that cultural rights are not clearly defined and are oftentimes in conflict with other types of rights. In this paper, I will first discuss the United Nations’ use of ‘cultural’ in its universal human rights in relation to the concept of cultural relativism. Then, using South African and American practices, such as virginity testing and discriminatory criminal justice system respectively, I will describe and analyze practices violate the UN’s universal human rights in addition to the practices’ use for the community or society as a whole. Lastly, I will compare the American Anthropological Association’s rights to culture to the UN’s universal human rights by analyzing the limitations of each.

The supporting and advocating on behalf of human rights has been one of the primary principles of the United Nations. Since its founding in 1945, the United Nations has worked to preserve the basic human rights and fundamental freedoms it believes to be deserved of by every man, woman, and child on the planet. Throughout the near seventy years of the United Nations’ existence, it has been challenged with an array of questions, events, and claims regarding the possible violation of human rights. In order to combat these claims, the body has established two organizations to deal with matters of human rights. The first being the Commission Human Rights, was the original organization, founded in 1946. The Commission existed