Debate on Private Prisons
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Additional Reading List
Gran, Brian, and William Henry. “Holding Private Prisons Accountable: A Socio-Legal
Analysis of ‘Contracting Out’ Prisons.”
Social Justice
, vol. 34, no. 3/4, 2007, pp. 173–194.
Many people are interested or concerned about the increase in private prisons. In this article Gran and Henry examine how private prisons are seen to benefit those individuals that find themselves in prions, but these institutions are not accountable to the public like governments are. The comparisons of three countries specifically, which are Australia, Canada, and the US, are presented in order to show the aspects of social policy organizations.
Lukemeyer, A., and R.C. McCorkle. “Privatization of Prisons: Impact on Prison
Conditions.”
The American Review of Public Administration
, vol. 36, no. 2, Jan. 2006, pp. 189–206. doi:10.1177/0275074005281352.
Over the past 30 years, the amount of prisons in the United states has gone up, but the willingness to finance them has lowered significantly. A suggested solution to this problem is the privatization of prisons. Lukemeyer and McCorkle point out that private prisons provide much better services for lower costs and they also outperform state and federal facilities in regards to the amount of violence that occurs. The fact that private prisons are more likely to be cheaper for taxpayers and safer for inmates encourages the financial support of prisons.
Lundahl, B. W. et al. “Prison Privatization: A Meta-Analysis of Cost and Quality of
Confinement Indicators.”
Research on Social Work Practice
, vol. 19, no. 4, Aug. 2009, pp. 383–394. doi:10.1177/1049731509331946.
In this article, Lundahl identified twelve studies to test if private prisons have better confinement quality with reduced costs. The results showed little to no support for this claim. Private prisons have no guarantee of cost savings and, for the most part, it appears minimal. Private facilities and public facilities are fairly similar and they tend to have different benefits. Privately managed systems can be seen as less overcrowded, but publicly managed systems provide better skills training and appear to have inmates with less grievances.
Makarios, M. D., and J. Maahs. “Is Private Time Quality Time? A National Private-Public
Comparison of Prison Quality.”
The Prison Journal
, vol. 92, no. 3, 2012, pp. 336–357. doi:10.1177/0032885512448608.
This article examines not whether private prisons should exist or not, but the similarity and differences between private and public prisons. The quality of confinement in both of these facilities are fairly similar. There is no evidence that prisoners in a private prisons have better quality living arrangements than public prisons, or vice versa. The differences Makarios and Maahs found was that there was less crowding in private prisons, but the amount of activities, such as work and education, are rated higher in public prisons. Each of these institutions provide different advantages, but based on this evidence there is not a lot of support towards that claim that private or public prisons are better than one another.
Pratt, T. C., and J. Maahs. “Are Private Prisons More Cost-Effective Than Public Prisons?
A Meta-Analysis of Evaluation Research Studies.”
Crime &Amp; Delinquency
, vol. 45, no. 3, Jan. 1999, pp. 358–371. doi:10.1177/0011128799045003004.
In the United States there is a great desire reduce the cost of incarceration. This need to save money is what started this privatization movement in the first place. This is a surprising turn of events considering that the findings that Pratt and Maahs recorded in this article. They found that private prisons are no more cost-effective than publicly managed facilities. What should be observed when trying to decide what type of prison is better is the facility’s age, security level, and economy of sale. These three key factors are usually what affect the operating costs of an institution, regardless of if it is publicly managed or privately managed.
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About
Motivators
Profit
Behind the Bars
Extra Information