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The Pros And Cons Of Private Prisons

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Dating all the way back to 1852, private prisons, also known as for-profit prisons, developed a lasting relationship with the U.S. During this time, San Quentin became the first of its kind. Located in San Francisco, San Quentin was the first for-profit prison in the country. Amid the Reagan presidency, “The War on Drugs” was in full effect during the 1970s. Creating the prison population to skyrocket. This bread a whole new problem in regards to costs and space within these prisons . This political issue brought forth the attractability of private-owned prisons (Findlaw, n.d.). In short, the privatization of prisons would take pressure off the government, allowing them to shrink the amount of money they would spend on the prisons.

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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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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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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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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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Mary Anne Batiz Dr. Pittaro Corrections 22 April 2017 Prison Privatization: Cost-Benefit Analysis Prison Privatization began around the 1980’s due to high incarceration rates creating more demand. Prison privatization is when prisons or jails are privately owned, rather than owned by the state or federal government. In the 1980’s, at the rate of overcrowding, the government could no longer supply the extra prisons needed for the incoming offenders. The CCA, Corrections Corporation of America, saw this as a business opportunity.

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Ever since For-Profit prisons started, jails have been overcrowded and are distributing inmates into prisons in neighboring states, such as Arizona, Mississippi, and Oklahoma. Judges and the government only have one thing in mind. Profit. As a result of wanting more profit, judges are convicting more prisoners for petty crimes. Therefore, For-Profit prisons have more employees to make more products.

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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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Looking at the statistics, the number of prisoners has multiplied by almost 800% from 1980 – 2013, is the primary reason why the federal state has first resorted to the privatization of prisons, the same sentiment was related by the Justice Department’s Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, to prevent overcrowded public facilities of federal jailhouses. However, with the report that he has released earlier in August, it turned out that private prisons are now more problematic and violent than its public

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However, private prisons have a long history in the United States. Prior to the 1980s, governments would contract with private prisons for specific services, but operations remained largely under government control (2). This new era of privatization has allowed private corporations to manage private prisons for a profit.

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This was a very infomative DB on the privatization of prisons. You briefly mentioned that without proper regulation in place for privatized prisons then, "detrimental side effects could surface, such as a diminished quality of service proving (to be) inefficient. " I think this could be said for both public and privatized prisons. In the early years of corrections, institutions usually lacked the profesional standards, central managment, and consistency in operations that is required today. The American Correctional Association (ACA) was developed and has been "instrumental in encouraging professional development and accrediting correctinal agencies" (Seiter, 2011, p. 518).

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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.

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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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United States Prisons: A Mental Cage The United States is one of the world’s most recognized and powerful superpowers since its industrial and commercial production along with their nearly limitless military budget make them practically invincible. This demonstrates the power of the United States on foreign soil and problems, yet many internal problems in the United States are left disregarded and neglected, simply thrown away. Citizens and lawmakers remain silent on several key social issues and on one of the biggest shameful topics of neglect, America’s incarceration rate.

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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.

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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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