Privatization Essay -- Prisons Government Papers

Privatization In Taft, California, with a perimeter of razor wire, armed prison guards, supervise hundreds of medium security level federal inmates. Welcome to one of America's newest and fastest growing trends in the area of corrections. This new phenomenon is termed, The Corporation of Modern Corrections. Faced with an increase in prison overcrowding and aging institutions, court orders demanding immediate reform coupled with a straining budget, mandatory minimum sentences, and the public's attitude toward "getting tough on crime", America's justice system is in need of an overhaul. Thus, government leaders are ready to consider different options to help reduce the strain, while still meeting is legal responsibility to provide services. The option to emerge to the forefront is Prison Privatization - " the transfer of asset's and of production of public goods and services from government to the private sector."1 in other words, private interest is being given the opportunity to help alleviate the strain of taking care of a growing population more economically and efficiently than the government. The expansion of the private sector into the prison system began to generate considerable interest and controversy in the mid - 1980's. Currently, almost all prisons' contract some type of service from the private sector to provide support, such as, construction, medical and religious services. However, the concept of relinquishing controls of adult offenders to profit seeking companies fuels a very controversial and heated debate. Most arguments center on whether private companies can truly provide a more efficient service at a lower cost than public institutions while not sacrificing quality. While others focus on the philoso... ...hn D. The Privatization Decision, Public Ends, Private Means, New York, 1989 (INGLEWOOD PUBLIC LIBRARY) Smith, Phil. Private Prison : Profits of Crime,1993 Fall Issue Covert Action Quarterly. (Internet:http://mediafilter.org/MFF/Prison.html) Logan, Charles. Prison Privatization: Objections and Refutations (Internet:http://www.ucc.uconn.edu/~wwwsoci/fraser.html) Kicenski, Karyl L. The Corporate Prison: The Production of Crime and The Sale of Discipline, 1998 (Internet:http://speech.csun.edu/ben/news/kessay.html) Hunzeker, Donna. Private Cells, Public Prisoners, 1991 State Legislatures (Inglewood Library) Lemov, Penelope. Jailhouse Inc., 1993 Governing Magazine (Inglewood Library) Unknown Author. Assessing the Issue: The Pros and Cons of Prison Privatization. 1996 (Internet:wysiwyg://24/http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/6465/assess.html)