Just Say No to Private Prisons
Here's a frightening scenario: Ghetto dwellers, who cannot find meaningful and high paid employment, commit crimes with increasing ferocity and frequency. Then, upon being arrested, tried and convicted, they are sent to prison where they suddenly are employed doing the very same tasks they could not pursue in the real world.
Prisons are a growth industry in America, some even becoming major manufacturers and suppliers of day labor. It's happening right now, right here in the U.S., all in the name of profit margins. Wackenhut, Inc. and U.S. Corrections Corporation, two very large private security firms, are coming soon to a town near you.
With the advent of New York's so-called "Rockefeller" sentencing laws, overcrowded and violence prone prisons have become quite a problem for the New York State's Corrections Department and others. Many states have followed suit, along with the Federal government, in requiring mandatory sentencing and issuing guidelines for judges in certain cases. This increased burden on the system has created an opportunity for private business to get in on the action. Some act as brokers between institutions for services, others purchase outright or build their own institutions. Many states are having a hard time building prisons fast enough to keep up with the overflow.
The demand for new facilities is greatest in California. The inmate population of California, in 1977, was 19,600. Today, that total is approximately 159,000 and growing. California currently has the dubious distinction of having the largest prison system in America. Despite having spent $5.2 billion on prison construction in the last decade, California still has one of the most overcrowded prison s...
... middle of paper ...
...eements on state land
* Discount rates on Workers' Compensation Insurance
* Consistent reliable work force
* On-call labor pool
ECONOMIC BENEFITS
* Victims of crime receive restitution from working inmates' wages
* Inmates become taxpayers
* Inmate workers pay support to families, decreasing social welfare burden
* Inmate salaries defray costs of their incarceration
* Mandatory savings accounts provide release funds to assist in successful parole adjustment
1. The Prison Industrial Complex - by Eric Schlosser, Atlantic Monthly, Dec.1998
2. Prisons for Profit - by Eric Bates - The Nation Magazine
3. Growth Industry of the 90's - by David P. West, Ph.D.
4. California Department of Corrections http://www.cdc.state.ca.us/program/jvppg.htm
5. Stop the War, The November Coalition http://www.november.org/PrisIndustry.html
Private prisons have a negative effect on states and local governments. Unfortunately, the number of private prisons has been increasing since their inception in 1983 causing further problems. For-profit prisons offer no real benefits and are bad investments for states. Furthermore, private prisons beleaguer communities with high turnover rates that hurt local economies. The demands of these institutions put an excessive burden on the local community’s infrastructure. Similarly, private prisons strain the county and city legal systems. More often than not, spin-off industries and economic benefits promised by the for-profit correction industry fail to appear. Additionally, private prisons are allowed to cherry pick the least expensive inmates, leaving the more expensive inmates for the state. A number of studies financed by the private prison industry give the misconception that they save states money. More importantly, the need to make a profit is an incentive for private prison industry officials to engage in nefarious activities.
American prisoners receive free medical attention, housing, meals, utilities, use of exercise equipment, and laundry services. The cost of these services amount in the billions of dollars a year and government budgets are straining to accommodate these fiscal requirements. “There’s special urgency in prisons these days,” “As state budgets get constricted, the public is looking for ways to offset the cost of imprisonment” (Brown). This economic concern requires work programs to aid in the relief of financial burdens incurred from convicted criminals. Once found guilty of a crime the prisoner needs to take responsibility for the costs incurred. Prison labor has evolved from the day of hard labor, breaking rocks, and making license plates to manufacturing, data processing, electronics, farming, construction, and even customer relations. Prisoners in America need to work, not to be confused with slavery, for economical, recidivism, and responsibility concerns. Work programs are crucial if taxpayers are tired of paying the cost for prison's financial liability, prisoner's family support, and release support programs.
California has one of the most dysfunctional and problematic prison system in US. Over the last 30 years, California prison increased eightfolds (201). California Department of Correctional and Rehabilitation (CDCR) does little to reform prisoners and serve as human warehouse rather than a correction institution. California's prison system fails the people it imprisons and society it tries to protect. In many cases, California's prison system exacerbates the pre-existing problems and aids in the formation of new problems for prisoners. This paper discuses the criminogenic effects of overcrowding, and reduction/elimination of programs and how it negatively affects California and the ballooning prison population and possible remedies.
Firstly, steroid use has tainted out national pastime and tarnished the game of baseball forever. Since random drug testing for steroids has been imposed since 2003, many of the
25 September 1998 Smith, Phil, "Private Prisons Benefit" The Berne Collection. 1 December 1998 *Shakur, Assata, "Letter from Assata Shakur on the prison industrial complex" 25 October 1999. Schlosser, Eric, "The Prison Industrial Complex" The Atlantic Monthly. December 1998 Vol.
The overpopulation in the prison system in America has been an on going problem in the United States for the past two decades. Not only does it effect the American people who are also the tax payers to fund all of the convicts in prisons and jails, but it also effects the prisoners themselves. Family members of the prisoners also come into effect. Overpopulation in prison cause a horrible chain reaction that causes nothing but suffering and problems for a whole bunch people. Yet through all the problems that lye with the overpopulation in prisons, there are some solutions to fix this ongoing huge problem in America.
The number of Americans that are in prison has elevated to levels that have never been seen before. Prisons in the US have always been crowded ever since the first prison was invented (Jacobs and Angelos 101). The first prison in the US was the Walnut Street Jail that was built in Philadelphia in 1773, and later closed in the 1830’s due to overcrowding and dirty conditions (Jacobs and Angelos 101). The prison system in modern US history has faced many downfalls due to prison overcrowding. Many private prison owners argue that the more inmates in a prison the more money they could make. In my opinion the argument of making more money from inmates in prisons is completely unconstitutional. If the private prisons are only interested in making
Perhaps one of the most controversial topics in Major League Baseball is the discussion of the use of steroids and human growth hormones. Both are completely illegal in the sport, and come with drastic consequences. One would think a fifty game suspension as a first offense would scare players away, but for some reason steroids in baseball is occurring more and more often to the disappointment of Major League Baseball. The reason players take steroids in the first place is to enhance their performance on the field. Steroids make players stronger and they perform at a higher rate. Another use for steroids is to help the players on certain rehab assignments for injuries. Either way, it is still illegal and banned in the sport.
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
We Are Spending Too Much On Prisons Would you believe that America has spent around five hundred billion dollars on prisons? Butterfield: Why are the taxpayers of America spending so much money on prisons and not other effective solutions to stopping crime? American legislation is closed-minded about reducing crime. They believe that prison is the only solution.
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.
Overcrowding in our state and federal jails today has become a big issue. Back in the 20th century, prison rates in the U.S were fairly low. During the years later due to economic and political factors, that rate began to rise. According to the Bureau of justice statistics, the amount of people in prison went from 139 per 100,000 inmates to 502 per 100,000 inmates from 1980 to 2009. That is nearly 261%. Over 2.1 million Americans are incarcerated and 7.2 million are either incarcerated or under parole. According to these statistics, the U.S has 25% of the world’s prisoners. (Rick Wilson pg.1) Our prison systems simply have too many people. To try and help fix this problem, there needs to be shorter sentences for smaller crimes. Based on the many people in jail at the moment, funding for prison has dropped tremendously.
In its past, the United States justice system has focused on punishment and imprisonment and improving its ability to do so. Crime in the United States has generally been responded to with punishment and large amounts of imprisonment. This has resulted in an imprisonment rate currently standing at nearly 720 prisoners per every 100,000 citizens (“People, not prisoners”). To supply enough room for all these prisoners, approximately...
Steroids have been in sports for the longest time. But the use of them has increased tremendously over time. Many athletes use them to bulk up and get more muscle. In the long run though, using steroid can seriously hurt an athlete. “The use of performance-enhancing drugs is not accidental; it is planned and deliberate with the sole objective of getting an unfair advantage.” (npr.org). This is what Richard Pound said during a debate over the use of steroids in baseball.The use of steroids by professional athletes is becoming more common, so it needs to be put to a halt to protect the wellbeing of athletes.
The first issue that I would like to address is the overcrowding issues in prisons. In my opinion, overcrowding issues are the biggest issues in our correctional system that concerns every citizen. Running a prison required money, resources and manpower, with overcrowding issues, the government would have no choice but to increase the number of correctional facilities, privatized prisons and increasing manpower. According to (Levitt, 1996), “The incarceration rate in the United States has more than tripled in the last two decades. At year-end 1994 the United States prison population exceeded one million. Annual government outlays on prisons are roughly $40 billion per year. The rate of imprisonment in the United States is three to four times greater than most European countries.” (p.1). Overcrowding issues are not only affect prisons but the society as a whole as well. The reason is simply because prison population directly refl...