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The Pros And Cons Of Privatization Of Prisons

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Every day thousands of people are sent to prison in America. Upwards of 2.3 million inmates are housed, fed and policed in prisons all across America (Conflict of Interest 1). In recent decades public prisons have become bloated with inmates, which has led to a privatization of the American prison system. Though this seems to be an easy solution to a time sensitive problem it may be causing additional problems. The privatization of prisons call into question the moral of these businesses. Just like with any for-profit business, in order for it to thrive there is a supply and demand. For private prisons to even be sustainable they must maintain a minimum 900 inmates for the entire term of the 20 year contract made with the government (Conflict
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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..

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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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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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In the documentary film Private Prisons, provides insight on how two private prisons industries, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and Geo Group, generate revenue through mass incarceration. It is no surprise that the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. The United States represents approximately 5% of the world’s population index and approximately 25% of the world’s prisoners due to expansion of the private prison industry complex (Private Prisons, 2013). The number of people incarcerated in private prions has grown exponentially over the past decades. To put into perspective, the number of individuals increased by 1600% between 1990 and 2005 (Private Prisons, 2003).

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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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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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“As of December 2000, there were 153 private correctional facilities (prisons, jails and detention centers) operating in the United States3 with a capacity of over 119,000 (Cheung, 2004).” Some people believe and set an argument that the privatization can save the government money and that the profit can help. Although there has not been much proof of this out of all the research to today says that there is no real difference. After numerous studies it still can’t be proven if it saves money and if it does how much it saves. (Cheung, 2004) says; “Proponents’ Arguments: Proponents contend that cost-savings and efficiency of operation place private prisons at an advantage over public prisons and support the argument for privatization.

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In the United States there are more people incarcerated than any other nation in the world. Recently, many states have taken drastic steps allowing private companies to buy prisons and operate them as profitable businesses. The business models of these companies relies on a high incarceration rate and the ability to operate at a very low cost. This could put a large portion of the prison population at serious risk of having their safety put behind the revenue they earn. Even though these for-profit prisons show no evidence of saving the federal government any money, and have dubious health and safety records, some politicians still push for legislation that is good for private prison companies.

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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

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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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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.

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