Private Prisons
INTRODUCTION
Prisons and hamburgers. What do these seemingly disparate items have in common? Selling prisons is as easy as selling hamburgers. Taking a look back can help expound on how patties and prisons became so similar. The prison population exploded during the 1980’s. The harsh war on drugs and even harsher sentencing policies like mandatory minimums pushed public prisons to the breaking point. With the increasing rate of incarceration public prisons were overrun and overcrowded, this over-abundance of inmates gave way to the surge of for-profit private prisons. As the private prison sector continues to grow, the United States for-profit private prison operators should consider whether private prisons are worth the economic plus or if the inhumane operations are a risk to free democracy.
SUMMARY OF OPPOSING VIEWS
The success of private prisons around the nation can be attributed to one very large factor. Profit, private prisons are most undoubtedly profitable. Prisons both private and public are partially or fully funded by taxpayer dollars, however unlike public prisons, private prisons are part of independent privatized companies. As private companies they seek to gain profit by making and
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Private prisons run rampant with violence, they have much higher rates of inmate death due fights, beatings, lack of medical care, and general support. The case study Paying to be Locked Up by Reiter, Keramet, concluded that “Beatings and other forms of assault, the separation of children from their families, sexual violence against women, and denial of medical care have persisted for years in both CCA-run private prisons and immigration detention centers.” [Reiter], abuse in institutions where violence is commonplace is only to be expected, however not addressing life-threatening injuries, sexual assault and almost the complete denial to medical care is just some of the ways the for-profit private prisons save