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
With 105 prisons being public and 14 being private sector there have been long discussions and decisions being made to make numerous public sector run prisons, private. The quality of service provided by private prisons is being faced with criticism that quality is being reduced to improve efficiency. Michel Gove has to make sure he is being efficient with his finances to run public prisons as he is facing 40% budget cuts. This table shows how the private and public prisons budgets have been split over the past 5 years: The public sector figures for 2015/16 exclude budgets that will be added over the course of the year which includes the prison industries, contractors’, escorts and learning and skills. 2016 will be the first full year with the prisons and offender management system going through the new reformed system with a new budget of £3,230.414m programmes resource expenditure and a further £8.000m capital expenditure and a new focus of stabilisation of the system including finances and public value (Ministry of Justice, 2015) Justice Minister Jeremy Wright gave a statement to The Telegraph (2013) on private prisons that states: ”The cost of running our prisons is too high and must be reduced.
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
(Conley, 2013 Para 3) Private prisons receive a secured amount of money for each prisoner. According to Russell Boraas, (2014) a private prison administrator in Virginia, “the secret to low operating costs is having a minimal number of guards for the maximum number of prisoners.”
The privatization of the prison system has made it so that individuals who have committed a crime are no longer seen as people but as profits. Prisons receive more money and more laborers (which they grossly underpay) with the addition of new inmates, so it is in the best interests of prison corporations to increase the volume of prisoners as well as expanding the length of sentences. Private prisons started out as a cost-effective way to house inmates, but after yielding large investments and profits, they began lobbying for new and harsher punishments resulting in America having the highest levels of incarceration in the world. In 1984, the first private prisons were created, the founders claimed that the prisons funded by the government but run privately would cost considerably less than prisons run at the county, state, and federal level.
Alyssa Arellano Professor May English 1302-42218 March 1, 2024 Profit Over Progress: How Private Prisons Increase Recidivism Rates? A prison is a place where criminals are supposed to go to be punished for a crime that they have committed, but also where they are supposed to go through rehabilitation and become productive members of society. The original goal when creating these institutions was to make them with the intention of lowering the rate of and preventing recidivism, which is the tendency to re-offend.
Several major controversies surrounding private sector prison providers were centered on three points: cost, quality and morality. Cost is perhaps the most common controversy that was often marred by ambiguities in accounting. There were questions in the private prisons on who should bear the costs of prisoner lawsuits, contract enforcement, on-site monitoring and health expenses. Private prisons often avoided inmates with greater health needs, thereby offloading costs onto the government.
Regardless, everyone is free to have their own speech and they will defend their opinions on controversial topics. The three most contentious affecting us are Private Prisons, College Players getting paid and Body Cameras. First, private prisons are good for these three reasons. One big reason why private prisons are good is that private prisons began
The private prisons are much harsher than normal prisons. I think that if you commit a crime then you should be punished, but I don't think that the prison should go above and beyond to make the sentence terrible. Private Prisons also earn more money for the more people they have locked up. This means that the prisons won't really care if you're innocent or not, just as long as they get their money.
Sometimes, any accidental move from a stranger can make an ex-prisoner remember prison and violence and prompt them to act out (America’s Prisons: Opposing Viewpoints). Besides the personal effects, mass incarceration can somehow have an impact on many citizens financially. Because it costs about $28,000 to keep one prisoner in, taxpayers must pay the price (“There Are Many Alternatives to Incarceration”). If alternative methods were used, there could be less of a financial strain on both citizens and the families of the prisoners. Studies show that cost of incarceration can be about $20,000 while cost of treatment is about $4000 (“Treatment or Incarceration”).
Private prisons have been increasing more and more over the decade and this is due to the fact that private prisons are handed to a third party to handle and manage thus causing the government to worry about one less thing on their agenda. Not only have private prisons been increasing because it is one less thing for the government to worry about but also because the it benefits the government with more cost-efficient prisons. To further elaborate on the above statement, private prisons are run by third parties and due to this it leads to a reduced cost because when it is run by third parties, third parties do not have to follow the same rules a government prison would. For example, private prisons can pay much less for security than a government
In a country with an extensive mass incarceration issues, prison overcrowding is commonplace. Therefore, states often turn to outside sources to relieve this stress. “The relief of overcrowding is the second major reason for the use of private prisons and includes both out-of-state transfer of inmates and in-state use of private facilities. In California, for example, the courts required a timely reduction of overcrowding, which led directly to the use of out-of-state contract prisons, as California does not allow private facilities to be built within its borders for state use…” (Blackstone and Hakim).
The amount of private prisons has increased since they were first created. Private prisons should be banned because they do not benefit anyone besides the corporations. Private prison’s treatment of inmates are not beneficial to the inmates quality
III. Cost a) How can we lower costs? b) Depending on the state, it costs $40,000 to house an inmate c) We are now spending more on the imprisonment of people instead of education the children of America. d) It will cost us less in the long run if we can fully rehabilitate inmates so they don’t keep coming back.
These factors create vulnerable circumstances for both inmates and the society. Moreover, these are possibly clear symbols of a failed concept, this raises questions on the methodological aspect of private prisons. Another disturbing effect the privatization of prisons has contributed to, is noted by Ecenbarger, (2012). It involves a case whereby thousands of young men, were wrongfully convicted with many not even receiving legal representation.
