Private Prisons

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The privatization of prisons and jails has led to mass incarceration, an issue that does not only effect those who are imprisoned, but also communities a whole. Prisons should no longer be private because it can create a need to put more people in jail for more profit. When money is an incentive, it can affect how law enforcement polices people. Also, when there are institutional biases against groups of people, and when individuals who work in law enforcement or related fields have biases, it can affect who is policed as well.
In colonial America, punishment for crimes was never imprisonment. People were fined, flogged, banished, and hung (Dolovich 450). In early American history, the private jails were paid for housing those who were waiting …show more content…

Under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, the death penalty was expanded to cover around 60 offenses; 100,000 new police officers were put onto the streets; money was given to fund prisons and crime prevention programs; and gave mandatory life sentence for those who had 3 or more serious violent felonies or drug trafficking offences (NCJRS). This stopped judges from using their judgement when sentencing people to prison and put small offenses on the same level as larger violent offenses. After this, the prison population sky rocketed and even led to some prison overcrowding issues. Between the years 1990 and 2000 the prison population grew from 1,179,200 to 2,015,300 (DuVernay). Today, one in four prisoners in the world are imprisoned in the United States …show more content…

Private prisons pick which prisoners they house and often choose to house the prisoners that are less expensive, the healthy ones. This causes people to see private prisons as more cost effective because, state prisons have to provide medical and mental health services to prisoners no matter how much it costs. Medical costs for state prisons are a third higher than private prisons in Arizona and a state prisons in Florida, pay 50% more in medical costs than private prisons (Oppel).
Another study, by Christopher Petrella also studied how private prisons make sure they get healthy (less expensive) inmates. Petrella found that with-in contracts between the government and private prisons, there are “fourteen different exclusion criteria, including disabled or elderly inmates, those who were HIV-positive, or anyone with sensitive medical conditions and/or high risk diagnoses"

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