The Changing of the Guard: A Progressive Study of the Privatization of Prisons

The Changing of the Guard: A Progressive Study of the Privatization of Prisons

Abstract

Privatization of prisons is not exactly a novel concept. The Federal Government has been contracting out such things as the building of new prisons, the operating of prisons, and providing goods and services to prisons since 2003. Some of the companies that the government trusts to do all of this are Corrections Corporation of America, and The GEO Service Group, formerly known as Wackenhut.

Although the government sees this step as a cost cutting measure, this change has not come without its problems also its detractors. Even so, privatization of prisons and the services it takes to operate them seems to be the way of the future for the corrections system in the United States.

The Changing of the Guard: A Progressive Study of the Privatization of Prisons

Private, for profit prisons were abundant during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and more so in the south than any other region. In the middle part of the 1800s, the state of Texas leased its prison system to private companies and this continued until the early 1900s. Other states such as Florida soon followed suit and leased most of its prison population to camps that were operated by the private sector. These camps were used for mining coal and phosphorous. In 1884, the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company, later known as TCI leased the entire Tennessee State Penitentiary.

There were problems with this arrangement, however, and by the beginning of the twentieth century, the leasing of prisons and prisoners had ended. The main cause for the termination of this practice was widespread corruption by the companies that leased the prisons and prisoners, and there were also ...

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...lities of how they are treated rather than what the name on the uniform of those who are responsible for their treatment. If the inmates are treated with fairness, then the acceptance of the name on the uniform as well as the willingness to cooperate with the people wearing them comes much easier.

References

Carceral, K.C. (2005) Prison, Inc. (V-VI,X, 5, 8) NYU Press

Logan, Charles (1990) Private Prisons Cons and Pros (8-12, 15, 17, 38-41, 49, 54-57) Oxford, England: Oxford University Press

Table of Cases

No table of cases needed as no cases were cited.

Works Cited

Carceral, K.C. (2005) Prison, Inc. (V-VI, V, 5, 8) NYU Press

Logan, Charles (1990) Private Prisons Cons and Pros (pp. 8-12, 15, 17, 38-41, 49, 54-57) Oxford, England: Oxford University Press