PRISON PRIVATIZATION PAPER

Prison Privatization Paper

Prison Privatization Paper

Introduction to Prison Privatization

The action in the direction of the privatization of amendments in the joined States is a outcome of the convergence of two components: the unprecedented growth of the US Prison population since 1970 and the emergence out of the Reagan era of a political environment favorable to free-market solutions. Since the first personal prison facility was opened in 1984, the industry has grown quickly; whole revenues exceeded $1 billion in 1997. This paper will analyze the industry's growth in the US in recent decades, and its present scope. The evidence for and aprofitst claims that personal Prison s can recognize profits in efficiency will be weighed, and significances of privatization for other public standards encompassing security, fairness, and legitimacy will be examined.

The Evolution and Scope of the Private Prison Industry

The birth of the contemporary American personal Prison commerce may be traced to 1984, when the joined States Immigration and Naturalization Service became the first government bureau to contract for personal correctional services, with the Corrections Corporation of America. This initial action in the direction of the federal privatization of amendments was rapidly pursued by agreements for outsourcing evolved by the US Marshals Service and the US Bureau of Prison s in 1986. The first county-level personal Prison contact was marked in 1984, between Hamilton shire, Tennessee and the amendments Corporation of America. soon thereafter, in 1985, the first state-level agreement was marked, between the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the joined States Corrections Corporation (NCPA 1995).

In 1987, approximately 3,122 inmates out of 3.5 million inmates were confined in private corrections facilities in the joined States. By 2001, the total joined States inmate community had enlarged to a staggering 6.5 million inmates—123,000 of whom were confined in personal amenities. This 4,000% boost in the number of Prison beds in personal hands was fed by the concomitant 90% development in total inmate populations in the joined States as a entire. (BOJS, 2001). Currently, over 32 states and Puerto Rico have formed contacts with corrections corporations. number 1, underneath, shows the inmate capacity of personal Prison s by state as of 1999 (Thomas, 2002).

As the overhead chart shows, per 1999 estimates, Texas, California and Oklahoma display the largest inmate populations incarcerated in private amenities, with populations of 30,000; 11,000; and 10,000 inmates, respectively (Thomas 1999).

Although Texas retains the largest number of our nation's personal Prison beds, the percentage of inmates in personal amenities to the total Texas inmate community is only 10.1 percent. New Mexico outsources the largest percentage of its inmate community to personal corporations (43.8 percent), pursued by Alaska (31.7 percent), Montana (32.7 percent), Wyoming (28.3 percent), Hawaii 22.9 percent), Wisconsin (16 percent), Mississippi (16.9 per hundred), and Tennessee (15.5 per hundred) (Fig. 2-ok DOC, 2002).

Figure 2

The financing of private amendments facilities varies from state to state, and, concurrently, from facility to facility. The per diem rate formed though a agreement in Okalahoma, for demonstration, may be substantially different from that formed ...