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Prison Privatization Case Study

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Policy background The involvement of the private sector in prisons is not a new issue. Both the federal as well as the state governments have overtime been contracting out certain services to the private firms. The services that are offered by the private firms for instance include vocational training, food preparation, medical services as well as the transportation of the inmates. The 1980s ushered in the new era of privatization of prisons (Price, 2006). With a significant prison population that resulted from the war on drugs, the prison overcrowding as well as the raising cost became a huge problem to both the federal and state governments. In trying to respond to the expanding criminal justice and system, most of the private business showed interest and an opportunity to expand their businesses. Overtime, this saw the prisons moving from simple contracting especially on services to the contracting of the complete management as well as the operation of the entire prison. …show more content…

In respect to the jurisdiction, the state, local or even the federal government are then charged some fee which could be a monthly rate per prisoner. Modern private business began emerging as well as establishing itself publicly in the 1980s. This was after the ‘Corrections Corporations of America’ got a contract to oversee a prison facility in the county of Hamilton in Tennessee (Selman and Leighton, 2010). This was the first time that any of the government in the nation had contracted a complete operation of a prison facility to a private operator. In the recent years there are there is a significant number of the correctional facilities managed by the private sector in the

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540 Words | 3 Pages

For example the federal state, lease system and county governments pay private companies a fee for each inmate. Which means that they are able to keep prisoners as long as they want to keep their facilities filled. “Important evidence of the abuse that takes place behind the walls and gates of private prisons, it came to light in connection with a lawsuit filed by one of the prisoners who was bitten by a dog” pg. 96.

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713 Words | 3 Pages

He argues that privately contracted prisons reduce cost of corrections for federal and state budgets. Seiter explains how private and public corrections are not competitors but partners. Partners that “ are proud of the services they deliver and are committed to meeting the expectations of the taxpayer and public official responsible overseeing their work” (Seiter 419). Private prisons have the ability to buy the fundamental supplies, hire more staff to avoid overtime expense which lower the operating costs to run the prison and make more profit. Setier accurately states that over the past decade “ new growth in prison inmates is going to private prison” (419).

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588 Words | 3 Pages

In other words, inmates were compelled to obey correctional managers and their staff. Inmates were put to work building roads, railroads, and even manufacturing wagons, shoes, and boots. In order for the contractors to protect their profit margins, they would transport inmates in rolling cages, where they lived. This way, the state would make a profit and could actually avoid the cost of building additional facilities, hiring correctional staff, feeding and clothing inmates, and assuming care. In reality, prisons became attractive profit

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744 Words | 3 Pages

The industry has much power in states that learn further right-wing in the political sphere; mostly due to the views of many regarding the restriction of the government power and preference for the privation of most all services. When prisons are privatized, profits then become the main purpose and as a result, those incarcerated in privatized institutions often suffer as a result; mostly in the poor food, labor conditions, and overcrowding. This issue of terrible conditions of these prisons doesn’t just influence the incarcerated, they instead affect society as they often fail at rehabilitation, even at a higher rate than public, creating more crime when those incarcerated are reintroduced into

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322 Words | 2 Pages

Private prisons were constructed as a response to the overcrowding in federal prisons during the 1980s; many people speculate whether or not private prisons are good or bad. Critics argue that private prisons like any business are driven by profit, and prisons profit from the amount of criminals they are able to contain which gives the private prisons and their shareholders incentive to keep the prison population high and expenses low. The National Council on Crime and Delinquency estimates that over the next ten years state and federal expenditures on prisons will amount to $351 billion6. These government subsidies along with the support of private prison shareholders allow the prison industrial complex to keep their power and influence

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182 Words | 1 Pages

Private prison began booming in the 1980s, under the presidential terms of Ronald Reagan and Bush Sr., however, it slowed down in 1990. When prison sales began to slow down in the 1990's, Clinton who was the acting president, wanted to cut the program but the Justice Department took over and began contracting private prison out to corporations again. Private prisons are the largest business in the prison industry. About 18 corporations guard 10,000 prisoners in 27 states.

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455 Words | 2 Pages

The movement toward privatization began in the 1980s and has grown at a rapid pace. By 2009, privately operated correctional facilities serving as prisons and jails held over 128,000 state and federal prisons across 33 states. State run prison systems have always contracted with private industries for food, psychological testing, training and recreational services. Companies such as Cornell Corrections, Corrections Corporation of America, Correctional Services Corporation, Wackenhunt Corrections Corporations and several other smaller companies operates private prisons. Most states corrections administrators utilize private companies to reduce overcrowding, lower operating expenses, and avoid lawsuits aimed at state officials and employees.

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1209 Words | 5 Pages

The authors Eve Goldberg and Linda Evans, writers, and filmmakers, published "The Prison Industrial Complex." This text discusses how the government and private corporations increase mass incarceration for profit. The text states, "For private business, prison labor is like a pot of gold. No strikes. No union organizing.

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574 Words | 3 Pages

The demand for private prisons has grown tremendously over the years. The government has relied on prison privatization to help address growing issues of overcrowding and financial stress in public prisons. However, many believe that privatizing prisons has led to and will continue to cause legal issues for our judicial system. In this paper I will discuss three potential legal issues associated with privatizing prisons. Privatization of prisons affects inmates negatively by neglecting and violating their rights.

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1875 Words | 8 Pages

By the government allowing corporations to buy, and build new prisons gave that much more of an incentive to keep the prisons flowing with inmates. According to Vicky Pelaez “Private prisons are the biggest business in the prison industry complex. About 18 corporations guard 10,000 prisoners in 27 states. Private prisons receive a guaranteed amount of money for each prisoner, independent of what it costs to maintain each one.” (6) Once you get trapped inside this prison machine they can and will work for cents a day.

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734 Words | 3 Pages

Interest in privatizing prisons started in the mid-1970s. A private prison is a correctional facility operated by an organization other than a government agency. The first private prison were opened in the early 1980s (Shichor, 1995). The United States faces a loss in the Vietnam War, gas and oil shortages, economic recession, and an increasing crime rate. People started to question and feel unsecure about the government after the Watergate Scandal.

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1162 Words | 5 Pages

I. List at least five of the major controversies surrounding private-sector prison providers. Modern private prisons have been around since the 1980s. Also identified as “Prison Privatization”, these private sector prison providers were utilized to bring together governments in need of additional prison capacity with private companies that can supply that capacity. Governments at the local, state or federal level sought bids from private firms to operate a prison, jail or detention center.

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Years later, an investigation into for-profit prisons discovered that many of them were too crowded. In other words, importing prisoners, bribing judges and inflating sentences has led to there being too many inmates to house safely. Instead of owning up to this, the corruption inherent in this industry causes prisoners to be in unsafe conditions. It's not hard to imagine what happens in an overly-crowded, improperly maintained facility; tensions flare, fights increase and germs are more easily

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989 Words | 4 Pages

Private prisons have exponentially expanded throughout the U.S. in the past decades and with the expansion of a corporation there will be setbacks. The YouTube video by John Oliver he enlightens the viewers about the negatives of private prisons and the companies who operates them like GEO group and the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). Oliver states that in 2012, about 8.7% of inmates were held in private prisons. Oliver reiterates that GEO group and the CCA had a combined revenue of over 3 billion dollars. It’s unfathomable that some corporations that are supposed to be taking care of the inmates with healthcare and decent food are essentially profiting from inmates.

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1356 Words | 6 Pages

The US prison population makes up 25% of the world’s prison population while the rest of America only makes up 5% of the world population. The cost of keeping these 2 million people in the US behind bars is an astonishing $80 billion. With such a gargantuan price, politicians, economists, and concerned taxpayers are struggling to find ways to reduce costs. Two ways have been identified as the most promising: privatize the prison industry or put inmates to work. There have already been successful implementations of both around the country, yet inmate labor is likely to be stifled and greatly discouraged due to its association with slave labor.

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