The Pros And Cons Of Privately Run Prisons

Despite what you may think, private prisons have existed in the United States dating all the way back to 1852, beginning with the San Quentin state prison. Private prisons did not truly become as common as they are today though until President Ronald Reagan led a large-scale effort for increased privatization around the United States during the 1980’s. One result of this effort was a large upswing in the number of private prisons. As a result of private prisons becoming more common place, it has been seen that compared to prisons run by the government, length of sentences have gone up within private prisons, while at the same time the treatment of prisoners has gone down. This topic interests me because I believe that it should never be in the best interests of such a large and powerful group to have as many people as possible in prison for as long as possible. In my opinion, it is not ethically correct on a basic human level to ever have it in people’s best interests to keep other people in prison. I chose this topic because I have always held a strong opinion on this topic but have never had the time to do extensive research on it and either confirm or dispel my current beliefs about it.

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

The number of privately owned prisons has grown, as has the imprisonment rate of Americans. “In 2005 more than 2.3 million Americans (or .7% of the US population) were incarcerated, in nearly 1700 state, federal, and private prisons, with many more under other forms of custodial supervision including probation and parole”(Smith and Hattery 2). “In 1980, only 474,368 citizens in the US were imprisoned, but in just a little over two decades, 2,042,270 people

Private prisons have a negative effect on states and local governments. Unfortunately, the number of private prisons has been increasing since their inception in 1983 causing further problems. For-profit prisons offer no real benefits and are bad investments for states. Furthermore, private prisons beleaguer communities with high turnover rates that hurt local economies. The demands of these institutions put an excessive burden on the local community’s infrastructure. Similarly, private prisons strain the county and city legal systems. More often than not, spin-off industries and economic benefits promised by the for-profit correction industry fail to appear. Additionally, private prisons are allowed to cherry pick the least expensive

580). Gran and Henry (2007-2008) argue that evidence of efficiency in private prisons provides questionable support, in part because of difficulty in comparing private and government-run prisons. They also state that while private prisons may be less expensive to construct and operate, those cost savings may be “the result of cost cutting by the private firms” (p. 176). Arguments against private prisons are more ubiquitous and include the following: • “The necessity for detailed contract development, monitoring, and regulation will be so significant that it will eat up any savings achieved through privatization;” • “The government will retain its legal liability and therefore will be liable for actions of contractors over which it has only limited

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 need of private detainment facilities has immediately created all through numerous years. Private jails are the operation of a jail by a privately owned business under contract with a nearby, state, or potentially central government, frequently as a revenue driven business. With the gigantic development inside the prison masses coming to fruition because of the War on Drugs and extended usage of confinement, correctional facility clog and expanding costs ended up being logically dubious for neighborhood, state, and focal governments. With this expanding criminal equity framework, private business interests saw an open entryway for improvement, and thusly, private-part nearness in penitentiaries moved from the direct contracting of organizations to contracting for the aggregate organization and operation of entire confinement offices. Close by, the development and increment of private detainment facilities as a few extra associations there are upsides and downsides. On August eighteenth, 2016 The United States Justice Department declared, that it wanted to end its utilization of private jails after "authorities finished up the offices are both less sheltered and less successful at giving remedial administrations than those kept running by the administration" Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates expressed that "they essentially don 't give a similar level of restorative administrations, projects, and assets; they don 't spare considerably on expenses; and as noted in a late

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

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

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).

As a result, indispensable services within the prison are affected. For example, medical care, food, clothing, staff cost, and security could be compromised and in the long run cost more (“Corrections,” n.d.). In 2010, the Corrections Department found that the daily cost per inmate was indeed cheaper in private-run prisons compared to state-run prisons. For example, it cost $58 dollars per day to house an inmate in a private prison while it cost the state $61dollars per day (Reid, J., 2014). Although, medical cost resulted to be more in private prisons than state operated prisons.

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

Over the past couple of decades, imprisonment in the United States has increased explosively. Imprisonment in the U.S. is higher than any other country in the world. Mass incarceration in private prisons occur because the private runned companies pick and choose prisoners that are less costly than others (Times). Studies from the University of Wisconsin have shown that prisoners who are being held in private prisons may serve sentences that are up to 7% longer than prisoners who are in public prisons serving a similar sentence. Which is directly correlated to the profit-potential that each prisoner provides the company that is overseeing the incarceration. Private prisons take in prisoners who are less costly and make them do cheap labor. The current incarceration rate “deprives record numbers of individuals of their liberty, disproportionately affects people of color, and