Kimberly, it is easy to see what side of the fence you are on. Nonetheless you raised some very real concerns and your discussion caused me to mull over the government role when it comes to private prisons. I’m sure the government has a hand in the way that private prisons are being maintained but how much. I would be highly surprised if private prisons were given free reign because the government in some sort of way regulates all businesses and private prisons are no exceptions. According to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) the government does have a hand in how private prisons are operated and nearly all facilities received some oversight from the contracting agency (McDonald & Patten, 2004). Still you have a very strong
He argues that privately contracted prisons reduce cost of corrections for federal and state budgets. Seiter explains how private and public corrections are not competitors but partners. Partners that “ are proud of the services they deliver and are committed to meeting the expectations of the taxpayer and public official responsible overseeing their work” (Seiter 419). Private prisons have the ability to buy the fundamental supplies, hire more staff to avoid overtime expense which lower the operating costs to run the prison and make more profit. Setier accurately states that over the past decade “ new growth in prison inmates is going to private prison” (419).
In chapter 13 of Corrections in America, the author describes the history of private-sector involvement in corrections and identifies its advantages. The author also describes how prison inmates were considered slaves of the state. Overall, this chapter compares gatekeepers and rainmakers. A private sector correctional facility is any prison, for-profit prison, detention center, is a facility in which juveniles and adults are physically restricted, housed, or interned by a nongovernmental organization which is constructed by a public-sector government agency.
This falls into the ethical issues because it makes it seem as though when someone enters a private prison, the odds are much likelier that they’ll have a longer stay than a public one. Time is something one can never get back, and private prisons are purposely wasting inmates’ lives just for financial gain (Pelaez). Prison privatization may also have affected sentencing. Prison privatization was supposed to be a solution to mass incarceration, not promote it. However, since privatization, three strike laws have been enacted.
In our previous class we spoke about how the profile of the usual white collar criminal is white, middle age, has a high level of education married, has a home and is in a supervisory position. This reminded me of one of my undergrad classes where we spoke about older white males more likely to commit suicide because of the loss of status. Putting those two together if reminded me of former Walls Street trader Michael Marin. Michael Marin was 53 years old, had a wife and children and could not pay the $2,500 a month mortgage on his home. Furthermore, he had $34,000 in back taxes.
Hi I agree with your cost assessment involving jailed inmates, but not as most people imagine prison cost. My concern is with the private corporations that profit from jailing US citizens, it is business model aimed at legally embezzling American taxpayer dollars, these corporations deploy few ethics in their day to day business practice. Being only concerned with keeping their facility at, or near capacity. Consequently, unsavory governing officials scramble to meet contractual “lockup quotas.” Taxpayers pay for any empty beds should crime rates fall under quota.
By the government allowing corporations to buy, and build new prisons gave that much more of an incentive to keep the prisons flowing with inmates. According to Vicky Pelaez “Private prisons are the biggest business in the prison industry complex. About 18 corporations guard 10,000 prisoners in 27 states. Private prisons receive a guaranteed amount of money for each prisoner, independent of what it costs to maintain each one.” (6) Once you get trapped inside this prison machine they can and will work for cents a day.
he Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines controversy as, “a discussion marked especially By the expression of opposing views’’ (“Controversy”). There are many controversies that affect society today. Controversy can cause fights, destroy families and intimate political strife. Some of the major controversies affecting America today are racism, killing, and how kids just sit in a class all day.
The government treats prisoners as if they are nothing in this world. The U.S prison system needs to be reformed by building new and better prisons and making it more humane and fair. Looking back to the prison history. Incarceration has not always been a common form of punishment. Back then people wanted to reform and change the way
It is no secret that the US relies extremely heavily on our prison systems to hold citizens that are not currently properly following rules set forth by the US government. The US currently has twenty five percent of the world's prisoner population, despite only having five percent of the world's total population (Incarceration Nation). This clearly displays a problem within our prison system and a disconnect from the values which our country claims to have as our prison rates are currently most comparable to North Korea (Incarceration Nation). The US prison system is in desperate need for reforms to better rehabilitate prisoners and be more ethically responsible towards them; the US could have a positive effect on the treatment of our prisoners
The United States is one of the only countries in the world in which you can make money off of putting someone else into prison, without calling it what it is, in other countries this is simply called slavery. Slavery has been illegal for many years and that is why private prisons should also be illegal, it is essentially being paid to own another human being. While these people may have committed crimes they have committed crimes against the state and so should be held accountable by the state and not a third party contractor. These contractors do not care if you are rehabilitated and in fact it would be better for their business if you weren’t. Therefore; the privatized prison system is more of a trade school than a rehabilitation center.
The presence of private prisons in America gives some groups in power an incentive to not unite the American people. These prisons exist on a capitalistic profit motive and are either required to hold a certain amount of prisoners to receive funding or are required to pay the government for every empty cell. Despite this, proponents of private prisons argue that they save the country money. While that may be true, they ruin American lives. The private sector that owns them has an incentive to lobby for mass incarceration, and unfortunately the people victimized by society are the most likely to be incarcerated and forgotten about.
Justin Jones, director for DOC, reported that private prisons in Oklahoma are all medium- or minimum-security prisons, and that stay completely away from maximum-security prisoners. These costly prisoners are shipped back to public prisons, sticking taxpayers with the cost, while the private prisons profits earn off the “easier” prisoners. This is more money out of the average American taxpayer's pocket, while the rich prison business owners make more money. However, there are still people who believe there is nothing wrong with the private prison
United States Prison System: Effectiveness of Rehabilitation Programs for criminals Prisons, at their core, are designed to stop people from committing crimes. The United States prison system is currently failing at meeting this basic principle. The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any democratic nation in the world (Bureau Justice of Statistics). The problem is revealed through the recidivism rates, with sixty six thousand criminals being re- incarcerated within three years of being released ( Lawrence). The prison environment creates hardened criminals who leave prison with no new skills and commit the same crimes in smarter ways, being even harder to catch.
These companies are not well regulated and costly, and support legislation that benefits their income. They have no incentive to rehabilitate, in fact just the opposite, and are therefore wasting lives trying to earn more money. The abolition of private prisons in the United States is a necessary course of action to ensure the maximum health of the
Explain the concept of prison as a total institution. Prison as total institution can be explained as a place of work and residence that bar individuals from rest of the society due to the similar circumstances. Indicate some of the reasons for violent behavior in prisons. There can be number of reasons for violent behavior in the prison. But it 's mostly done to prove the strength among other prisoners.