Question

Many jurisdictions have contracted with private prisons to solve their overcrowding problems. Identify at least two benefits achieved in contracting with a private prison.

Identify at least two disadvantages resulting from contracting with a private prison.Cite at least two articles (not in the class reading list) to support your response.

Comment on the postings of at least two of your classmates.

Answer 1

In parts of the United States there are prisons which, instead of being run directly by the government, in the traditional style, are run with private interests. The state authorities allocate money to the financing and make sure that they follow the same standards as state prisons, for example in terms of cells, food, work, rights and other conditions.

Advantages and disadvantages arise from this situation. As for the advantages, we can see that the government invests less money than it would invest if the prison were state-owned, so less money is invested in an activity that is not productive in itself, being able to allocate that public money to another type of expenses most necessary to improve the life of society. In addition, the fact that private prisons coexist with state prisons implies that the prison system is not saturated, since many investors can create new prisons, avoiding overcrowding of convicts as happens in other parts of the world.

As for the disadvantages, the main one is that the prison ceases to be a punishment for the inmate and a protection for society to be a business, so that since there is an economic interest, there can be an over-incarceration of the accused in the various criminal trials of the country. In addition, the lowering of costs in the prison day to day may lead to the violation of the rights of prisoners.

Answer 2

Answer: According to the article "The Economics of Private Prisions", the advantages of contracting with private prisions are the prices, which are cheaper than public ones for tax payers, since the company hired is the one responsible for solving any structural demands for example, that is currently generating over 80 billion dollars a year in expenses to be mantained for the government. Also, private companies generate jobs for the community, which could be the other advantage of contracting private prison services. The disadvantages, as pointed in "ISSUES IN CONTRACTING FOR THE PRIVATE OPERATION OF PRISONS AND JAILS", are concerning the fact that those prisons are able to "choose the criminal" according to the offense of the convict, and then aren't obliged to accept all of them as public ones are. Also, the ratio of convicts to employees are higher, and it is reported that these employees face 50% more violence acts against them when compared to public institutions.