Private Prisons
Renda B Walker
Appalachian State University Private prisons are not a new occurrence in America. The first jails and prisons in the country were all private entities run for profit. They were not concerned with operating as an institution, but only as a business model, charging the government and prisoners’ families for their keep (Ogle, 1999). The commercial model of using prisoners as free labor and making profits from punishment began around 1825 with prisoner lease programs where prisoners were leased out to business as workers (Jing, 2010). These programs didn’t end until 1940 with the Summers-Amhurst Act (Jing, 2010). The early private prisons failed either because they lost legitimacy due to corruption and abuse,
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According to Jing (2010) conservatives see it as conducive to smaller government and a way to break unionization. Conservative social control in the legislatures has contributed to the overcrowding of prisons with laws that are “tough on crime”. The three strike laws and truth in sentencing statutes have caused a decline in prisoner releases and increased the time inmates are serving. Prison privatization allows states to expand social control by easing the overcrowding and financial strain of so many prisoners in the system (Jing, 2010).
The opposite of conservatism, neoliberalism, also contributes to prison privatization. Neoliberalism encourages minimal bureaucracy and government control and seeks to create an integrated market for correctional labor. This philosophy perceives private prisons as operating more efficiently and for less cost by incapacitating correctional unions (Jing, 2010). It is important to note, that although conservative ideology promotes prison privatization, Democratic controlled states have also been forced to privatize because of prison overcrowding and fiscal constraints (Price & Riccucci,
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One of these apprehensions is the personnel hired in private prisons. There is fear that they are not hiring adequately credentialed staff and that the staff may not be properly trained to operate at the correct security level, or the significant turnover rate of staff prevents correction officers from gaining expertise in their field (Gran & William, 2007-8). Some experts contend that the only way private prisons can operate for less cost than public prisons is to hire fewer staff, pay lower wages, and reduce staff training (Dunham, 1986). Jing (2010) also notes that private correctional officers are paid on average 59% less than their public counterparts, have less training, and a higher turnover rate. With private contractors having a financial interest in parole release proceedings, there is also a risk that staff members will supply parole boards with biased or misleading information in order to keep their facility populated at capacity (Dunham,
Unable to get official permission to interview and write about correctional officers, Ted Conover, author of the book Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing, “got in" by applying for a correctional officer position. After training, he and his fellow rookies, known as "newjacks," were randomly assigned to Sing Sing, one of the country's most famous -- and infamous -- prisons. Sing Sing, a maximum-security male prison, was built in 1828 by prisoners themselves, kept at their task by frequent use of the whip. Today, the chaos, the backbiting, the rundown building and equipment, the disrespect and the relentless stress that Conover experienced in his year at Sing Sing show, quite well, how the increase of prisons in the U.S. brutalizes more than just the prisoners. Some of the individuals in Conover's entering "class" of corrections trainees had always wanted to work in law enforcement. Others were ex-military, looking for a civilian job that they thought would reward structure and discipline. But most came looking for a steady job with good benefits. To get it, they were desperate enough to commute hours each way, or even to live apart from their families during the work week. Their job consists of long days locking and unlocking cells, moving prisoners to and from various locations while the prisoners beg, hassle and abuse them. Sometimes, the prisoners' requests are simple, but against the rules: an extra shower, some contraband cigarettes. Other times, they are appropriate, but unbelievably complicated: it can take months to get information about property lost in the transfer from one prison to another. Meanwhile, the orders officers give are ignored. Discipline -- even among the officers themselves -- is non-existent. And with the money and benefits of this "good" job come nightmares and family stress, daily uncertainty about one's job and duties, and pent-up frustration that, every so often, explodes in violence -- instigated by staff as well as by prisoners.
Lance has been actively coordinating political action for prison reform since 2007. He is President of the AFSCME, a union for correctional employees throughout the state of Texas. The AFSCME has national representation with 1.6 million members; Lance represents about 5000 Texas correctional workers, about one-eighth of Texas’s total correctional staff, which includes non-correctional employees like parole, victim services, etc. There are roughly 26,000 Correctional Officers in Texas, but whether the state is staffed to that capacity is open to debate. There are typically officer shortages, give or take 3000 at any given time. Today, Texas faces the most severe shortages of correctional staff they have seen. I asked Lance why he thought the Texas Prisons were in such storage for Correctional ...
Lappin, H. G., & Greene, J. (2006). Are prisons just? In C. Hanrahan (Ed.), Opposing Viewpoints: America’s prisons (pp. 51-98). Detroit: Bonnie Szumski.
When envisioning a prison, one often conceptualizes a grisly scene of hardened rapists and murderers wandering aimlessly down the darkened halls of Alcatraz, as opposed to a pleasant facility catering to the needs of troubled souls. Prisons have long been a source of punishment for inmates in America and the debate continues as to whether or not an overhaul of the US prison system should occur. Such an overhaul would readjust the focuses of prison to rehabilitation and incarceration of inmates instead of the current focuses of punishment and incarceration. Altering the goal of the entire state and federal prison system for the purpose of rehabilitation is an unrealistic objective, however. Rehabilitation should not be the main purpose of prison because there are outlying factors that negatively affect the success of rehabilitation programs and such programs would be too costly for prisons currently struggling to accommodate additional inmate needs.
The Justice Gap (2012) [online] “Privatising prisons a step too far”, Available at: http://thejusticegap.com/News/privatising-prisons-a-step-too-far/ [last accessed on 10th November]
Of course, that would be the logical thought to have, but as it turns out, it 's a little more complex than that. Expectedly, “the interest of private prisons lies not in the obvious social good of having the minimum necessary number of inmates but in having as many as possible, housed as cheaply as possible.” (Adam Gopnik) In other the words, more inmates meant more money for the company. Over the last thirty years, the Corrections Corporation of America, a company whose main source of income comes from “having as many [prisoners] as possible, housed as cheaply as possible” saw the incarceration rates increase to “500 percent to more than 2.2 million people.” (grassroots) Well, let’s not get carried away, one could argue that the spike in incarceration rates can’t possibly be the private prison’s fault. They exist only to control and house the prison population, not to create it. Well, one would be right, the private prisons are not directly responsible; they are not directly making more criminals but what one doesn 't realise is that they play a pretty critical role in the
Prison Reform in The United States of America “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones” (Nelson Mandela, 1994). The United States of America has more people behind bars than any other country on the planet. The prisons are at over double capacity. It cost a lot of money to house prisoners each year.
The past two decades have engendered a very serious and historic shift in the utilization of confinement within the United States. In 1980, there were less than five hundred thousand people confined in the nation’s prisons and jails. Today we have approximately two million and the numbers are still elevating. We are spending over thirty five billion annually on corrections while many other regime accommodations for education, health
In the essay "Prison "Reform" in America," Roger T. Pray points out the much attention that has been devoted to research to help prevent crimes. Showing criminals the errors of their ways not by brutal punishment, but by locking them up in the attempt to reform them. Robert Pray, who is a prison psychologist, is currently a researcher with the Utah Dept. of Corrections. He has seen what has become of our prison system and easily shows us that there is really no such thing as "Prison Reform"
Some people believed it would improve the allocation of resources in corrections. If the prisons were privatized, then the private sectors were no longer needed to contrast with the government. It greatly improved the effectiveness. Besides, better facilities were available to guarantee the security of the criminals. They could also have better living conditions. For government, privatization of prisons could help them save both money and time. If the prison was owned by the government, then they needed to spend a large amount resources and money. Prison administration was very time consuming as well. However, if the prison was managed by the private companies, they could adjust expenses according to the requirements of the development of the company. The cost would reduced in consideration of their own benefits. In addition, privatization of prisons would bring more job opportunities. A series of positions would be created if the prison was managed by the individuals. On the contrary, some people held that it would go against the allocation of resources in corrections. They believed that the private companies would spare no effort to pursuit their own pursuit, regardless of considering the situation of the criminals. This would increase the cost of government. For example, they would tend to accept the low-risk criminals and avoid dealing with the threatening criminals in order to lower the
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.
Throughout history into today, there have been many problems with our prison system. Prisons are overcrowded, underfunded, rape rates are off the charts, and we as Americans have no idea how to fix it. We need to have shorter sentences and try to rehabilitate prisoners back to where they can function in society. Many prisoners barely have a high school education and do not receive further education in jail. Guards need to pay more attention to the well being of the inmates and start to notice signs of abuse and address them. These are just a few of the many problems in our prison systems that need to be addressed.
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. The question is there really a difference between private and public facilities, since the two are suppose to be different when it comes t cost and efficiency, also are the private facilities being run as a correctional facility at all?
Therefore the concept of innovation must be thoroughly explored to see the benefits that private prisons are accountable for right now and could be accountable for in the future. Ira Robbins of the American University Law Review, “With maximum flexibility and little or no bureaucracy, new ideas (like testing new philosophies) and routine matters (like hiring new staff) can be implemented quickly within private prisons. Overcrowding - perhaps the major systemic problem facing corrections today - can be reduced simply through innovation.” Peter Greenwood of the RAND corporation also explains that private prisons are more likely to innovate as compared to public prisons. He expounds, “Because innovators are not found in government, but in business, it is time to get the government out of the prison business. Government can give us bigger, newer prisons but not better prisons, more effective programs, or better personnel without various incentives, which they lack. If the operation of our prisons were contracted out, private enterprise can step in. Private prison managers would be free to innovate, to use the latest technology and management techniques as in any profit-motivated service industry.” One example of this is provided by David Cardwell of the NY Times who writes that, “[private prisons] build solar panels and are looking into making energy-efficient lighting and small wind turbines.” In the long-term, Adrian Moore of the Reason Public Policy Institute explains that in the long-term, “the success[of private prisons] hinges on delivering the same product as the government but at lower cost, or a better product at a cost effective price, they turn to new management approaches, new monitoring techniques, and administrative efficiencies—in a word, innovation”This logically shows how private prisons are self-incentivized to achieve more innovative methods to remain
Shelden, R. G. (1999). The Prison Industrial Complex. Retrieved November 16, 2013, from www.populist.com: http://www.populist.com/99.11.prison.html