The Pros And Cons Of Private Prisons

1872 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The private prison industry essay

Between 1978 and 2014 the United States’s incarcerated population increased 408% (aclu.org). As a result, America has struggled to meet the demands on inmate housing. In response to rising inmate populations, America has long used privatization of prisons to account for the increasing overcapacity. Proponents of private prisons claim that private prisons are cheaper without losing the quality of services. However, despite the establishment of the first private prison institute in 1984 (Seiter 417), private prisons have not met their claims. No proof exists in support that private prisons save taxpayer money; prisons are still over capacity with corruption still prevalent. While shutting down all private prisons immediately is not practical, …show more content…

He is also an Associate Director of the non-profit organization the Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC), Managing Editor of HRDC’s monthly publication, and a non-compensated President of the Private Corrections Institute, an organization that opposes privatization of prisons. In 2014, Fordham Urban Law Journal at Fordham University published his academic journal called, Apples-To-Fish: Public and Private Prison Cost Comparisons, where Friedman breaks down various reasons why documentable evidence is inconclusive regarding prison privatization, such as prisoner cherry picking (509-530), recidivism rates (545, 561), and corner cutting (550-558). Another article published in ___ written by Michael Brickner and Shakyra Diaz for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called Prisons for Profit looks into the financial motive of private prisons and safety precautions for communities. Brickner is Director of Communication and Public Policy and Diaz is the Policy Director for the ACLU, both co-authored Ohio’s ___ report on prison …show more content…

Beginning in the 80s the U.S. developed a tough-on-crime mindset that set the precedence for increased incarceration and introduced minimum sentences and jail time for petty crimes such as property damage (Brickner and Diaz). Thus, the U.S. then had a new problem: how to account for the new prison population. From the very beginning, Private Prisons main purpose was to be a cost-saving way of dealing with the increasing overpopulation. However, despite the three decades (and a number of facility increase of 45% between 2000 and 2011(Seiter 418)) in which private prisons have existed there has been zero conclusive evidence to support the claim (Friedman 505-509; Seiter 427; Brickner and Diaz). Despite various studies to investigate the cost savings or expenditures of private prisons, the results vary tremendously. Some findings support the claim that private prisons save money (Seiter), while others report no savings (Friedman; Seiter), and furthermore, some conclude higher costs (Friedman; Seiter). Therein lies a problem. For a solution to not meet the demands set by oneself is a red flag. There is no point in repeating what has not proven to be successful in over 30 years. After 30 years privatization of prisons exceeds an experimental endeavor and should by this point be meeting certain expectations, yet they are not. Another factor to consider is how private prisons

Show More
Related

  • America’s Prisons and Their Effects On Society

    1532 Words  | 4 Pages

    Trachtenberg, B. (2009, February). Incarceration policy strikes out: Exploding prison population compromises the U.S. justice system. ABA Journal, 66.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Solitary Confinement In Prisons

    1530 Words  | 4 Pages

    Solitary Confinement is a type of isolation in prison which a prisoner is segregated from the general population of the prison and any human contact besides the prison employees. These prisons are separated from the general population to protect others and themselves from hurting anyone in the prison. These prisoners are deprived of social interaction, treatments, psychologist, family visits, education, job training, work, religious programming and many other services prisoners might need during the sentence of their imprisonment. There are roughly 80,000 prisoners in solitary confinement but 25,000 are in long term and supermax prisons. According to the Constitution, “The Eighth Amendment [...] prohibits the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines, or cruel and unusual punishment”(US Const. amend. VIII). Solitary confinement is suppose to be the last straw for inmates to be in. If they don 't follow it, they can be on death row. Taxpayers pay roughly $75,000 to $85,000 to keep prisoners in solitary confinement. That is 3 times higher than the normal prisons that taxpayers pay for them to be in prison. Solitary confinement was established in 1829 in Philadelphia for experimentation because officials believed it was a way for

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Federal Prisons

    1219 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1814 Francis Scott Key described America as “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” Does that still hold true today? The United States has less than 5% of the world’s population, yet houses roughly a quarter of the world’s prisoners. That means it has 751 people in jail for every 100,000 in population. If you only count adults one in every 100 Americans is locked up. In 2012 the U.S. spent 677,856,000 billion dollars on national defense, that’s nearly 7.5 times the amount spent on education. If more money was spent on education there would be a better chance that people won’t end up incarcerated. About half of the prisoners in the United States are sentenced for non-violent crimes. The population of federal prisons has increased

    Read More

  • Private Prisons Negativly Impact State and Local Governments

    3178 Words  | 7 Pages

    Private prisons are correctional institutions ran by for-profit corporations. They claim to cost less than prisons ran by the state, while offering the same level of service. In fact, the Corrections Corporation of America, one of the largest for-profit prison corporations, states that their business strategy is to provide quality corrections service while offering a better value to their government partners at the same time making a profit (CCA 2010). However, opponents of private prisons say they do not save states money because of their hidden cost. At any rate, more than a few states have found private prisons to be advantageous. For one reason, many states are facing massive deficits and are l...

    Read More

  • Prison Overcrowding in California

    2479 Words  | 5 Pages

    The proliferation of prison overcrowding has been a rising concern for the U.S. The growing prison population poses considerable health and safety risks to prison staffs and employees, as well as to inmates themselves. The risks will continue to increase if no immediate actions are taken. Whereas fighting proliferation is fundamentally the duty of the U.S. government, prison overcrowding has exposed that the U.S. government will need to take measures to combat the flaws in the prison and criminal justice system. Restructuring the government to combat the danger of prison overcrowding, specifically in California, thus requires reforms that reestablishes the penal codes, increases the state’s budget, and develops opportunities for paroles to prevent their return to prison. The following context will examine and discuss the different approaches to reduce the population of state prisons in California in order to avoid prison overcrowding.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Mass Incarceration

    1168 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Private Prisons: Profitability and Controversial Strategies

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    Private prisons in the United States, came about in the early 1980s when the war on drugs resulted in a mass wave of inmates, which led to the lack of the prison system’s ability to hold a vast number of inmates. When the cost became too much for the government to handle, private sectors sought this as an opportunity to expand their businesses through the prison industry. Since the opening of private prisons, the number of prisons and inmates it can hold has grown over the last two decades. With the rising number of inmates, profits have also substantially grown along with the number of investors. But what eventually became a problem amongst the private prison industry was their “cost-saving” strategies, which have been in constant debate ever

    Read More

  • Home Confinement is the Solution to Prison Overcrowding

    1274 Words  | 3 Pages

    Prison overcrowding is one of the largest problems facing the American criminal justice system today. Many people may think this issue does not affect them, but the problem becomes important when overcrowding forces prisoners to be granted early release. "In cases of extreme brutality, the sentence served by criminals can be short. Because prison space in the city is tight, each offender can be accommodated only briefly" ("Punishment"). Prison overcrowding causes a controversy of positive and negative views concerning the construction of more prisons. Supporters claim that building more prisons is the only solution, while opponents argue that alternative methods could be used to solve the problem of prison overcrowding. The question becomes whether or not the cities and states should spend scarce resources to build more prisons since the inmate population will continue to grow. Opposing viewpoints to this question represent both the pros and cons of building more prisons in order to solve the problem of prison overcrowding. While an alternative approach to the controversy attempts to bring the opposing sides together.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Alternatives To Prison

    731 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is said that prison should be used for more serious crimes such as rape, assault, homicide and robbery (David, 2006). Because the U.S. Prison is used heavily for punishment and prevention of crime, correctional systems in the U.S. tend to be overcrowded (David, 2006). Even though prisons in the U.S. Are used for privies on of crime it doesn 't work. In a 2002 federal study, 67% of inmates that

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of For Profit Prisons

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Problems with the American Prison System

    1089 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Solitary Confinement: Pro, Pros And Cons Of A Prison Within Prisons

    1577 Words  | 4 Pages

    Solitary confinements are a prison within prisons, that isolates inmates from the rest of the world. Solitary confinement was originally founded by the Quakers and Anglicans in the early 1800s, in Philadelphia. The purpose of solitary confinement when the Quakers and Anglicans first created it, was to give the inmates the opportunity to get the chance to find Christ (Biggs 2017). Now the purpose of solitary confinement is to serve as punishment for criminals that are killers or cause a problem within the prison. Inmates in solitary confinement sit in a cell that is 80 square feet for 22-23 hours a day, with 1 hour of free time without human contact (Breslow 2014). One side believes solitary confinement is a good and a easy way to protect society

    Read More

  • Private Prisons or For -Profit Prisons

    1203 Words  | 3 Pages

    A private prison or for-profit prison, jail, or detention center is a place in which individuals are physically confined or interned by a third party that is contracted by a government agency. Private prison companies typically have contractual agreements with the governments that commit prisoners and then pay a per diem or monthly rate for each prisoner confined in that private facility. Private prisons have been part of the system for quite some years now, specifically for involvement in corrections. Private for-profit prison management started rising in the 1980s, they represented a qualitative shift in the relation between corrections and private business. The question is there really a difference between private and public facilities, since the two are suppose to be different when it comes t cost and efficiency, also are the private facilities being run as a correctional facility at all?

    Read More

  • The Shawshank Redemption Prison: The Pros And Cons Of Prisons

    1212 Words  | 3 Pages

    The correctional system is based on helping offenders become part of society and not commit any crimes. Many prisons begin the correcting criminals since they are inside the jails, but many prisons do not. Prisons provide prisoners with jobs inside the prison where they get very little pay close to nothing and many have programs that will help them advance their education or get their high school diploma. There are various programs prisons provide to prisoners to help them get a job or have a skill when they are released from prison. In contrast, prisons that do not provide programs or help to prisoners rehabilitate and enter society again will be more likely to commit another crime and go back to jail. The Shawshank Redemption prison did not

    Read More

  • Issues in Corrections

    851 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

More about The Pros And Cons Of Private Prisons

Open Document