In today's society more and more violence is occurring each and everyday. With the increase of violence, the inmate population grows and locations of incarcerating inmates are rising as well. In his article, Private prisons, career correctional administrator and academic, Richard P. Seiter argues that the private corrections care about the well being of inmate not about making profit off the enormous populus incarcerated. Richard P. Seiter is a career Correctional Administrator. Mr. Seiter served as a Warden at two federal prisons, Federal Prison Camp in Allenwood, Pennsylvania from 1981 to 1982 and Federal Correctional Institution in Greenville Illinois from 1993 to 1999..
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
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
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.
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.
Current policy allows government agencies to fund private, non-profit correctional facilities (also referred to as private prisons). While new policies to end federal contracts with private prisons have been issued, government agencies such as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), continue to work with private prisons now known as immigration detention facilities. The continued support of private prisons by government agencies for the last four decades has sparked public debate. “Conflict over the direction of government policy” on private prisons has resulted in the use of private prisons to be an unresolved public policy issue (1). Modern private, for-profit correctional facilities emerged in the 1980s that allowed private corporations to have full operational control for the first time.
Improving American Prisons When looking at the American prison system it can be seen that it is something that can and needs to be improved on. Compared to other countries around the world the United States is number one with the highest incarceration rates. In 2013, the United States Department of Justice, estimated that more than 1.5 million persons were in a state or federal prison. That is an increase of 4000 more than in the previous year. As we can see, overcrowding is one of the biggest problems that the government faces when looking at prisons.
This type of monopoly, in the prison system, can promote injustice and corruption. In the end it’s the inmates that lose time and time again. The government should focus its resources on the corporations, and curbing the amount of people being incarcerated for victim less
Since the end of President Jimmy Carter’s administration in 1981, the number of inmates in American prisons has more than quadrupled, with numbers reaching upwards of 2.3 million in recent years. Many politicians claim that this is the most effective way of lowering the crime rate in America, they state that with more inmates there will be less crime. However, these claims made about the implementation of tougher laws and the increase of sentences do not decrease crime. Instead these policies over-crowd prisons, promote the abuse of inmates, and decrease the ability of correctional facilities to provide legal alternatives to crime once a sentence has been served.
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.
he Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines controversy as, “a discussion marked especially By the expression of opposing views’’ (“Controversy”). There are many controversies that affect society today. Controversy can cause fights, destroy families and intimate political strife. Some of the major controversies affecting America today are racism, killing, and how kids just sit in a class all day.
A common concern for people would have to be what is the cost of building a prison? Nevertheless, the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prison has double the last decade to pay for the cost of prisons, which they raised two billion dollars. Thus, the rise of incarceration causes for more prisons, and government seems to have no problem with funding for more prisons. The prison-industrial complex is a term coined from the infamous military-industrial complex--a name that originated during World War II, referring to the enormous amounts of money spent and made in the name of building the biggest war machine ever assembled (Hartman, 2000). This makes the prison industry in the second fastest growing industry in the
What do you think you know about the United States Prison System? Do you have the information you need in order to decide? This paper will give you the information necessary on the past, present, and future of prisons in order to make a sturdy opinion of the United States Prison System and whether or not it is headed in the correct direction. Starting way back in time as just a temporary holding tank, prisons have evolved dramatically over the years to become black holes of corruption. There needs to be a complete re-evaluation of the views people hold with regard to prisons and think about the future keeping in mind what they could be.
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.
Open prisons are usually for prisoners who were moved from closed prisons for rehab purposes. There are no external protection to an open prison. The prisoners with good conduct in the work force belong in this kind of prison area. Enforcement officers can go out under the supervision and protection, and also it is possible to discuss freely with visitors. Prisoners in the open prison are required to work hard labor for the government, it can also be community service.
