Prisons for Profit When the average person thinks of a prison, what is often the thought that comes to mind? Perhaps an environment of reform is envisioned, or maybe a place for punishment. Maybe someone sees them as modern leper colonies, where countries send their undesirables. It could be that prisons are all of these things, or they could be none. With these ambiguities in the general definition of a prison it is easy to say that the everyday person could have no real critical perspective on what they truly are. That being said, if the average person were presented with Angela Davis’s perspective, and the perspective of many scholars, they may be shocked to learn what prisons truly are. This perspective presents prisons as a profitable industrial complex very similar to the military industrial complex. Like the military industrial complex, in the “prison industrial complex,” investors make large amounts of money off the backs of imprisoned inmates. It is interesting to note how similar these two systems are, with closer analysis; it seems to me as though one may have developed from the other. On another note, the prison industrial complex also appears to have a correlation with the globalization of labor; which makes it possible to assume that one contributed to the development of the other here as well. However, where the prison industrial complex’s roots lie is not as big an issue as the simple question of the morality of the practice. A person can know the history of the issue all they want but the important matter is addressing it. When a person begins this matter of addressing an issue they must always start somewhere. In this instance, it is best to start at defining the prison industrial itself. The prison indust... ... middle of paper ... ...sons under the rug and ignore their existence entirely in their day to day lives. Much is the same about private wars and the inner working of the corporation that fund them. Rather than focus on these important issues people go through their lives in a clueless daze. It is important for those who are aware of these things to inform those who are not in order to make the severity of these topics known by all. Only by making these issues common knowledge can there be hope for any substantial change. It is my hope that people turn away from the relatively meaningless trivialities they focus on in their day to day lives and instead turn their attention towards topics more worthy of their attention. Until the time comes when people do so, I will do my part to inform those I can in hopes that it sparks some kind of interest in them to investigate these issues as well.
Angela Davis goes throughout her life striving to find the path of “freedom.” Her autobiography ventures to explore the political aspects of her life and her experiences through them. She is able to connect the characteristics of the prison-industrial complex with slavery and her affairs to the carceral state. In The Meaning of Freedom, she gives speeches and talks about her ideas on such topics. Her lifelong dedication to the elimination of the prison complex and the concept of imprisonment being the first option to solving problems has been highly influenced by her own experiences in that system and having dealt with others in it as well. In terms of the prison industrial complex, Angela Davis urges the idea that slavery,
Shapiro, David. Banking on Bondage: Private Prisons and Mass Incarceration. Rep. New York: American Civil Liberties Union, 2011. Print.
25 September 1998 Smith, Phil, "Private Prisons Benefit" The Berne Collection. 1 December 1998 *Shakur, Assata, "Letter from Assata Shakur on the prison industrial complex" 25 October 1999. Schlosser, Eric, "The Prison Industrial Complex" The Atlantic Monthly. December 1998 Vol.
The drastic increase in US inmates has happened overtime. In the beginning of the century the incarceration rate did not rise much and was nearly 10 inmates for 100,000 people. By the mid-1970s, the rate steadily rose, doubled in the 1980s and tripled by the 1990s. Now we are at stifling rate of 445 people incarcerated for every 100,000 people in the nation; 1,100 per 100,000 males nationwide are incarcerated or have been at any given time.¹ (Statistics via: theatlantic.com). Thousands of new prisons and jails have been built over the last 20 years or so and, somehow, the prison system is still overcrowded. This leads to the concept of the prison system and corrections being termed an “industry.”
Should prisons in the United States be for profit? How do for profit prisons benefit the United States? Would inmates rather be in private or public correctional centers? What kind of affects does this have on taxpayers? What are the pros and cons of profit prisons? These are many of the questions that are brought up when discussing for profit prison systems. There are different perspectives that can be taken when it comes to talking about for profit prisons. This paper will discuss some of the ways that the United States has started to become for profit and why it has happened. Finally, this paper will give an opinion of whether or not for profit prisons should be dominant over public facilities.
Henningsen, R., Johnson, W., Wells, T. (2011). Supermax prisons. In Latessa, E., & Holsinger, A. (Ed.), Correctional contexts: Contemporary and classical readings (pp. 78-85). Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
In 21st-century America, detainment is turning into a multibillion dollar industry every year, and will keep on increasing in extension in the coming decades. The “prison industrial complex" incorporates not just those organizations specifically included in conveying discipline (courts, adjustments,
Therefore, they argued that the drive to fill new prisons with people were driven by the ideologies of racism and the pursuit of profit and money (Davis). Also, the prison industrial complex states that punishment is the result of economic and political structures as well as ideologies instead of trying to deter crime (Davis). It was stated that many corporations with global markets actually rely on prisons as a source of profit, not only in the United States but also in Europe, South America and Australia. The prison industrial complex is fueled by privatization because of how much privatization has changed areas such as healthcare and education which in turn has increased the presence of private corporations in the prison economy which has lead to the existence of private prisons.The private prison trends are “reminiscent of the historical efforts to create a profitable punishment industry based on the new supply of “free” black laborers in the aftermath of the Civil War” (Davis,
Private Prisons A private prison or for-profit prison, jail, or detention center is a place in which individuals are physically confined or interned by a third party that is contracted by a government agency. Private prison companies typically have contractual agreements with the governments that commit prisoners and then pay a per diem or monthly rate for each prisoner confined in that private facility. Private prisons have been part of the system for quite some years now, specifically for involvement in corrections. Private for-profit prison management started rising in the 1980s, they represented a qualitative shift in the relation between corrections and private business.
Governor Greg Benson wants to outsource the states medium security prisoners. Outsourcing would mean send inmates in the states prisons out of state to serve their prison sentence. We would be sending these inmates who aren’t just a number; they are fathers, sons, and grandchildren to prisons in states such as Texas or Georgia. He says this will help with over crowding and will save New Hampshire tax payers money. Shipping inmates out of state will hurt the community’s of New Hampshire, it won’t save much money, and is a bad idea.
Pelaez, V. (2014, March 31). The Prison Industry in the United States: Big Business or a New Form of Slavery?. Global Research- Center for Research on Globalization. Retrieved July 8, 2014, from http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-united-states-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery/8289.
Don Hutto, Tom Besley, and Dr. Robert Crants “wanted to invent an approach that benefited others and they wanted to do so while working in the govenement institution they valued. “(CCA 2013) The trio created the first private prison, brining “cost savings, technology and design innovations to government.” (CCA 2013) Corrections Corporation of America started in 1980, they industrialized the prison industry, they were able to “build, operate, design, finance, tailor solutions based on precise needs, population, budget, policies, and procedures of correctional facilities.”(CCA 2013) Not only did they industrialize the industry they specialized in the prison
Shelden, R. G. (1999). The Prison Industrial Complex. Retrieved November 16, 2013, from www.populist.com: http://www.populist.com/99.11.prison.html
The origin of the word prison comes from the Latin word to seize. It is fair to say that the traditionally use of prison correspond well with the origin of the word; as traditionally prison was a place for holding people whilst they were awaiting trail. Now, centuries on and prisons today is used as a very popular, and severe form of punishment offered to those that have been convicted. With the exception however, of the death penalty and corporal punishment that still takes place in some countries. Being that Prison is a very popular form of punishment used in today's society to tackle crime and punish offenders, this essay will then be examining whether prison works, by drawing on relevant sociological factors. Furthermore, it will be looking at whether punishment could be re-imagined, and if so, what would it entail?
Prison was designed to house and isolate criminals away from the society in order for our society and the people within it to function without the fears of the outlaws. The purpose of prison is to deter and prevent people from committing a crime using the ideas of incarceration by taking away freedom and liberty from those individuals committed of crimes. Prisons in America are run either by the federal, states or even private contractors. There are many challenges and issues that our correctional system is facing today due to the nature of prisons being the place to house various types of criminals. In this paper, I will address and identify three major issues that I believe our correctional system is facing today using my own ideas along with the researches from three reputable outside academic sources.