Private prisons were a $4.8 billion industry in 2014, with profits of $629 million; according to a market research firm IBISWorld (2015). Private prisons in the United States are trying to solve the issue of saving money and prevent overcrowding. In a 1999 survey of private prisons, administrators compared statistics from the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Some key findings conclude that private prisons had issues with staff turnover, escapes and drug use (Camp & Gaes). Through research, there have been numerous differences discovered between privately and publically managed prisons. A private prison is a facility that is owned and operated by a third party and is contracted by the local, state, or federal government. While the prisoner is in custody, the government will pay a monthly rate per prisoner housed at each facility (Lundahl, B. W.).
Private prisons are operated under there own guidelines and regulations so they have the option to accept or decline any type of offender. Typically, privately ran facilities do not usually accept offenders who are too costly to hold. These would include certain medical conditions, mental health issues, and dietary requirements that all increase the cost of housing a offender. Research shows that private prisons typically house less violent and serious offenders than public prisons as this would increase the amount of security needed.
By using a theoretical and empirical research approach, researchers searched if there is a higher
As prisons grow in size, governments look for new methods to aid in cutting costs and increase efficiency. Over the last decade government run institutions have been replaced with privately funded, for-profit prisons. Although it is cheaper for governments to run contract based institutions this mass industrialization of the prison system has seen many issues with corruption, decreases in efficiency and even mistreatment and exploitation of incarcerated individuals. The prison system should remain under government control and in this essay I will discuss the faults and errors of for-profit institutions and why this system should not be overseen by private corporations.
enrich people and corporations. Private Prisons is the State being actively involved in the trafficking of the freedom of human beings for a profit. In order to protect their profits, Private Prison corporations require the State to agree to a minimum occupancy rate which means that the State has a contractual agreement to imprison people. That means that the State agrees that every day a certain percentage of their people will be in jail. The State will make sure the police will work to ensure that these quotas are met and that the corporations are profitable. The incentive is no longer public safety, but profits and contractual obligations. The
evidence of private prisons saving money is mixed at best. most studies show they don’t save money or even cost more than public prisons.
Many people in America have no idea that there are different types of prison systems. The two different types of prisons include state-ran and private. State-ran prisons are prisons owned and operated by the local, state, or federal government; however, private prisons are prisons in which individuals are incarcerated by a third-party organization that is under contract with a government agency. Private prisons are funded by the government and have the unique ability to do whatever they want. The controversy between state-ran prisons versus private prisons started in 1852, when the first U.S. private prison was introduced. Escapes, riots, and in-prison crimes happen substantially more in private prisons than in public prison. Private prisons
A prison is a building made up of hard, cold, concrete walls and solid steel bars in which individuals, known as inmates, are physically confined and deprived of their personal freedom. This is a legal consequence that is imposed by the government to lawbreakers as a punishment for a crime they have committed and for the protection of the community. A private prison is much like a public prison except people are incarcerated physically by a “for-profit” third party who has been contracted by a government agency. These private prisons enter into an agreement with the government, and the state pays a monthly amount for every prisoner who is confined in the private facility. In both public and private prisons, incarceration cannot be imposed without the commission and conviction of a crime. Even though public and private prisons may seem to be the same in several aspects and are used to serve the same purpose, there are numerous differences between the two. At one point the Obama administration opted to put an end to private prisons; on the other hand, the Department of Homeland Security and current President Donald Trump fought for them to stay in place. The U.S Justice Department and the Bureau of Prisons will realize that keeping private correctional facilities in place is a huge mistake; therefore, will opt to phase out such facilities and will stick to housing inmates in the public state-run prisons.
The private prison system is like every other business, the main purpose of it is to make huge profits. Unlike other business, they are selling product or products. In order for a business to function, there have to be infrastructures that would allow that business to work effectively and efficiently. Another word there has to be a manufacture, a transportation system that carries the products after being made and final there is a store where customers can buy the products. The private prison system follows the formula. The products the private prison system is
As the number of prisoners have constantly been rising at an exceedly fast pace, several governments around the world have embraced the use of private prisons. Private prisons are confinements run by a third party, through an agreement with the government. In the United States, it is estimated that there are over 1.6 million inmates, of that there are 8% that are housed in privately-operated prisons. While the other 92% are housed in the public prison system. Private prisons have existed since the 19th century. Their use increased in the 20th century and continues to rise in some states. When a government makes an agreement with a private prison, it makes payments per prisoner or vacancy in jail on a regular basis for maintenance of the prisoners. Privatization became involved due to the fact that prisons were becoming overpopulated. Public prisons contracted the confinement and care of prisoners with other organizations. Due to the cost-effectiveness of private firms, prisons began to contract out more services, such as medical care, food service, inmate transportation, and vocational training. Over time private firms saw an opportunity for expansion and eventually took over entire prison operations. However, now their security, how they treat the inmates, and their true cost effectiveness has come into question
Today, the private prison industry is big and extremely profitable. The industry is dominated by two large companies, Corrections Corporations of America (CCA) and the GEO group. The annual combined revenues for both companies amount to over $3 billion while their top executives get compensation of over $3 million each. However, the way these companies operate is wholly unethical.
Thesis: Private prisons actually exacerbate many of the issues they were designed to solve by incentivizing increased incarceration, and at the same time they produce lower value than regular prisons while ultimately costing more, such that private prisons should be abolished and incarceration should remain exclusively public.
Public prisons are prisons that are owned, operated, and funded by the government. Private prisons, on the other hand, do not require as much maintenance from the government. A corporation rather than the government controls private prisons. A private prison profits by receiving a “stipend from the government.” The amount of money is “based on the size of the prison, based on a monthly or yearly set amount, or in most cases it is paid based on the number of prisoners that the prison houses”
The only way for the private prison system to work is through the American taxpayers. Private prisons still function similarly to government prisons as in both systems the taxpayers pay a certain dollar amount per prisoner; this funding is suppose to pay for all the expenses prisoners have. The private system, however, is using much less of that money for the actual inmates. In addition, private prisons “cherry pick” the inmates that will get them the most profit. To do this, they only take healthy inmates.
Across the nation, both local and federal prison systems have looked to private corporations to provide beds for
Private prisons have a monetary incentive to keep their prison filled to the max (Mason, Too Good to be True Private Prisons in America). Public prisons on the other hand spend more money and effort on rehabilitation efforts and reintroducing people back into society in a healthy manner. One way in which private prisons reduce costs is by cutting the amount of training and pay prison staff are given as well as the number of staff which in turn leads to a less safe prison. The statistics point to an increase in riots, inmate violence, and even assault on prison staff (Mason, Too Good to be True Private Prisons in America). The quality of healthcare is another major issue in private prisons compared to public prisons and is one such reason why the amount of money spent per prisoner is less in private prisons (Smith, Why the U.S. Is Right to Move Away from Private Prisons). As well as spending less on those who need it, private prisoners do a certain amount of cherry picking taking only healthier and thus cheaper prisoners to hold within their \walls (Smith, Why the U.S. Is Right to Move Away from Private Prisons). Private prisons state innovation and creative methods as the reason for saving money as opposed to public prisons but there
In addition, private prisons have been a labor- intensive industry. Private correctional prison claim to be able to operate at a lower cost than other public agencies
Privatizing prisons may be one way for the prison population to get back under control. Prisons are overcrowded and need extra money to house inmates or to build a new prison. The issue of a serious need for space needs to be addressed. “As a national average, it costs roughly $20,000 per year to keep an inmate in prison. There are approximately 650,000 inmates in state and local prisons, double the number five years ago. This costs taxpayers an estimated $18 billion each year. More than two thirds of the states are facing serious overcrowding problems, and many are operating at least 50 percent over capacity. (Joel, 1988)” Private prisons may be for profit, but if they can solve the issue of cost then it may be a