Pros And Cons Of Private Prisons

1026 Words3 Pages

Private prisons are for-profit organizations where convicted criminals are confined by a third party contracted by government agencies for a net profit. Private prisons date as far back as the 1800’s, San Quentin being the first private prison in the U.S. Private prisons had its boom during the 1980’s, three major factor that contributed to the privatization of prisons; Ronald Reagan 's support for privatization, increase in prison population, and the Prison Industry Enhancement Certification program. Since then,the amount of private prisons across the U.S are continuously rising, a rate that starting to raise eyebrows. Between 1990 and now, the number of private corrections within the United States almost doubled, and inmate population grew …show more content…

The cost of paying private companies to house inmates is much cheaper than doing so in public prisons. Private prison employ staff at a lower rate and less benefits than public prison means more money is saved for the government. They also have access to cheaper goods and services, unlike government ran prisons.
Performance
Private prisons are on contracts with the government to house inmates, so performance standards are set high. Although they are ran by private companies,they are reviewed by public agencies to ensure that they are meeting all requirements. Inmates are offered better medical care, living conditions,and an effective rehabilitation program in private prisons. A well designed facility, greater operational and administrative flexibility, decentralized authority, higher morale, enthusiasm, and sense of ownership among line staff, greater experience and leadership among top administrators, and stricter “by the book” governance of inmates were factors that predicted a high performance of private prisons (Logan, …show more content…

With prison population increasing and public prison overcrowding, the government depends on the private prisons to take in more prisoners. If these prisons gain the majority of the prisoners in our country, then they would effectively control the prison system. Meaning they could dictate terms and policies to suit them and their goals.The public institution will have no choice but to pay those costs because they have stepped away from their role in the prison system and the result might be higher

Open Document