Private Prisons

Not all prisoners in the US are housed by federal and state governments. Every year 40,000 illegal immigrants and 27,000 US citizens are held by private prisons in questionable conditions. Corporations like the Corrections Corporation of America earn enormous contracts to jail convicted felons. For the government's part, private prisons alleviate overcrowding and save money. Critics argue that by outsourcing prisoner care the government shirks its responsibility to maintain decent living standards and that ultimate accountability is ambiguous.

Exploring Private Prisons

OUT OF CONTROL - Regardless, the government remains responsible for ensuring that prisoners' rights are protected even if they send them to a private prison. Smith fails to note that exploiting or abusing prisoners can occur in both government and private prisons. We hear terrible stories all too frequently: of "gladiator" fights between inmates orchestrated by correctional officers, sexual assaults by correctional officers, and other individual and systematic abuses -- in public facilities. Our goal should be to prevent this in any institutional setting. Arguably, abuse and violations of rights should be...

Private Prisons Increase Capacity, Save Money

PENN REPUBLICAN - Critics of prison privatization often call private correctional facilities risky, unproven, or experimental. Yet private prisons operate successfully across the US. Nationally, over 107,000 federal and state prisoners—about 7% of the inmate population—were housed in private facilities in 2005 (an additional 73,000 inmates were held in privately-run local jails). Privately-operated prisons are the most common in the south and west, with five western states—New Mexico (43.3%), Wyoming (41.3%), Hawaii (30.9%), Alaska (28.4%) and Montana (25.5%)—housing more than a quarter of their inmates...

Private Prison Accountability Act of 2007

COST OF PRISONS - As the federal government continues to contract out the incarceration of federal prisoners, it is essential that there be public disclosure about the operation of these private prisons,² Senator Clinton said. " Right now, the public does not have the same right of access to information about private prisons as it has for federal prisons. There is a lack of accountability into how tax dollars are being spent, which can place the safety of correctional officers, surrounding communities, and prisoners at risk. This legislation will help to ensure that citizens and elected officials can properly...

12.22.07

01:07 PM -

gatesy

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01:02 PM -

gatesy

12.18.07

05:24 PM -

This is not a "we should/shouldn't" This is a "we are"

henri - The point is that prisons are currently private and it's not working - it's certainly not a question of whether or not we should privatize prisons - we already do and it's a disaster! People are moved to private prisons in the middle of the desert with no notice to anyone, being treated terribly (recent suicide, health issues), and little contact with the outside world. There's a reason why the vast majority of inmates at private jails are illegal immigrants

10:37 AM -

privatize!

DPY - Blackwater operates in the chaos of Iraq, these prisons are in the United States. All of them are overseen by the Bureau of Prisons. Why not privatize all of our prisons, hire the equivalent of a small army of inspectors and let someone else deal with the costs of building and maintaining huge facilities? I'm sure that in the long run it would still work itself out to be less money. Our healthcare is largely privatized; I'm not seeing human rights abuses there…

10:20 AM -

Why not?

Conrad - As long as there are safeguards i see no reason why prisoners shouldn't be placed in private facilities. If it saves the taxpayer money and keeps the prisoners safe whats the big deal?

10:15 AM -

Like most things, more efficient and better run.

Doofus - There aren't very many things that are better run by the governments than by private corporations. As a tax payer, my tax dollars pay for just HALF of supporting one prisoner! Let me rephrase that: the taxes that both myself and my colleague sitting next to me pay, combined, over the course of an entire year of hard work, go to feed, clothe and shelter one asshole who decided to murder his wife. Prisoners deserve what they have coming to them. Slash costs with whatever means possible (unless there is some serious rehabilitative potential, in which case it's worth paying more). In addition, I am not sure whether this applies to prisons as well, but most private corporations run things far more efficiently than governments. You only need to spend a little time working in a government agency to see the difference. That said, they usually perform better because of a desire to please a discerning customer. When prisoners don't exactly have the choice of which prison to stay in, I'm not quite sure how well economics 101 work here....

09:47 AM -

Good points

jb - Both Penn Republican and Out of Control bring up good points. I'm torn on this Issue. Privatizing this system does seem to provide better cost savings, but human rights concerns are also a non-negotiable.

12.17.07

11:26 PM -

Appalling

SophieBear - There's no reason that this should be tolerated. There's a reason that these private companies can do it for half the price, and it's not because their rehabilitation programs are better. Prisoners are transfered into the middle of no where and the government has zero accountability - it's just like Blackwater.

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