In mid-January the corporation, which once handled some 5,000 overflow inmates that Wisconsin shipped out of state, sent out a letter to corrections officials in 48 states offering to buy and operate their prisons. The offer comes on the heels of a deal in Ohio where the state used $72.7 million in proceeds from the sale of one of its prisons to CCA to patch a budget hole.I understand the theoretical advantages of privatizing the prison system, but what I find disturbing is the sentence (if it's true) that a state has promised to keep a prison at 90% capacity. It seems to me that a decision like that by the executive branch of government puts pressure on the judicial arms of government to either arrest more people or incarcerate more arrestees, in order to maintain a quota.
To uphold its part of the deal, Ohio has promised to keep the prison at 90 percent capacity for the duration of the 20-year contract...
Corrections Corporation of America and other private prison companies -- like GEO Group, formerly Wackenhut -- saw explosive growth in the 1990s as the war on drugs and new tough sentencing laws confronted the nation with an exploding prison population. But the prison population in recent years has leveled out, and is expected to drop in some states...
An investigative report by National Public Radio says, "According to Corrections Corporation of America reports reviewed by NPR, executives believe immigrant detention is their next big market...
Creepy.
Stories like this one make me think it's time to move "1984" from the fiction section to non-fiction.
ReplyDeleteOr move prisoners from the myriads of other prisons into the one that is privately run. Now if all of the prisons are privately run and there is a quota for filling them... big dilemma.
ReplyDeleteKeeping prisons at a particular occupancy rate would be OK provided there were an appropriate mechanism for the state to adjust the number of places according to expected demand.
ReplyDeleteIf you can't shut places when you need to, you're a fool for signing the contract.
Many years ago, Kent County Council realised the baby boom of the 60s would leave them without enough school places. Instead of increasing their own capacity they bought places at local public (that's UK for private - don't ask) schools and gave them as scholarships. This saved them the problem a few years later as the bulge passed of having to close schools - never a politically popular move.
As someone who's highly educated but who has also spend the night in the drunk tank, I find it dispiriting that I could be captured and incarcerated by, let's say, the Pepsi Cola Corporation.
ReplyDeleteIn Idaho, the ACLU is suing the CCA over conditions in the maximum-security prison the CCA runs, otherwise known as 'Gladiator School.' Google Gladiator School Idaho for more info, but be forewarned, much of the info is graphic and unsuitable for children, work, or anyone squeamish. Why does the state of Idaho permit the CCA to continue running the prison? That is a very good question and has a lot to do with the political culture of Idaho and political donations -- another rant entirely.
ReplyDeleteHave you actually googled that? I did and all I found were some links that say it was called Gladiator School because they allowed inmate on inmate violence to keep people in line and denied medical care to avoid paperwork.
DeleteHow about a relevant link?
Selling out prisoners seems quite counter-intuitive. They are no property of the government. Their freedom has been taken. They have not been punished to being a profit creating object. I thought the US had got over this whole thing of using people for profit against their will.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that running the prison system is one of the more obvious government-only activities. What's next? Privatizing the judicial system, because many case can be automatized due to simplicity? Why use an expensive judge when most speeding ticket challenges can be easily handled by a computer? Amicable divorces can also be done automatically. Why not farm that out to Facebook or Google? They know everything about the parties than any judge ever could.
One thing that has always bothered me about private, for-profit corporations running prisons (and schools) is how do they make their money? Think about it. If a local government cannot spend X amount of money to operate its prisons or schools, then how can a private company make a profit on even less, and give the same quality of service? It's something that I've never understood.
ReplyDeleteThe basic premise is that the private enterprise can be more efficient than the public. The offside is the probability that muscle(services) will be cut when there is no more fat (waste) to cut.
Deletewell that's the point - you're not supposed to think about it. private prisons have been proven time and time again to either not save money, or to sacrifice conditions, staffing, and medical care in the process (or both). the two biggest companies earn more than $200 million in profit every year, from taxpayer dollars, wile operating prisons. They simply don't save money, and the profit that they generate only goes into the pockets of the executives. Privatization is just legal graft.
Deletefor way more on the industry and all its failures, check out http://whyihatecca.blogspot.com
We've let the gov't waste so much money for so long that we are suprised that a private corp can do better. I think almost anything our fat and happy govt workers are doing could be done for half privately (broad brush but I'll stand by it for now)
ReplyDeleteThere is so much money to be made that the private corps can even incentivize the court system:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/13judge.html?pagewanted=all
I was a government worker for 30 years, working 55-hour weeks. My salary was much lower than that of someone with comparable experience in the private sector.
DeleteEveryone knows that private corporations can do a better job than the government- all the banks and car companies that got federal bailouts keep reminding us of it to this very day!
DeletePrivate jails provide much needed employment opportunities in white suburban America- as well as instantly "solving" unemployment in the inner city...
My favorite thing that private companies do better than government organizations is the way they respect basic human dignity and the well-being of the public.
Deletesarcasm?
DeleteThere is a place for government and it's not privatizing prisons and guaranteeing that they will be kept nearly full. We can either be ruled by government or ruled by corporations. When government secedes its authority and role to the private sector which only cares about profit we are crossing a fine moral line and endangering ourselves. Prison is to reform not for profit. Human beings are human beings and should not be preyed upon.
ReplyDelete