The main criticism Bauer based his findings on was the fact that private prisons “put profit above all else.” A major way these prisons save money is my understaffing and underpaying the few staff they hire. Mother Jones reporter Shane Bauer went undercover as a prison guard for 4 months in order to get an “up-close look at the day-to-day life” within a private prison. He conducted his research in this manner because it is very difficult to gather information about a prison who does not have to comply with public record laws. He felt this was the only way to get the truth about these “companies.” He is participating in this interview to display his findings and answer questions about his perspective towards private prisons after his experience going undercover as a guard. In the Louisiana prison that Bauer was working at, the guards were only payed $9 an hour, which is much less than state-run prisons. It is ridiculous to think that there were 1,500 inmates with only 24 guards watching them. Over course, few supervision leads to an excessive amount of violence. All of the violence that occurred forced some of the few guards there to leave the prison. The two guards that Bauer interviewed said, “there was a lot of stabbings going on. I felt my luck was just about to run out” and one left because there were “so many incidents where I could have been in the hospital.” The guards at this prison were not safe nor were they prepared to defend themselves from the inmates if they got out of control. Another was these private prisons saved money was to not give any of the guards a nightstick or pepper spray, which gave them “no means to do the job.” This lowered morale and most of the basic functions were never done, such as security checks, walking through the dorms, and just checking to see if everything was ok. The lack of supervision causes chaos within a prison including dangerous prisoners escaping into society. The fact that the government agencies fund these prisons but rarely check up on them, unless there is a crisis, is irresponsible. This is why Bauer fully supports the Department of Justice phasing these prisons out. Private prisons are bad for the community and is confused why the Department of Justice is even still using these companies.