Privatized Prison System

4 AU

Unit Four – Public or Privatized Prison Systems
Phillip Ishee
American InterContinental University

Abstract
This assignment will discuss two arguments that the public sector prisons can make to keep prisons in the public’s hands, while also discussing two arguments the private sector can make to get the prisons in their hands. This assignment will also discuss any legal issues of privatizing prisons and the challenges both private and public prisons face.

During the course of a prison and its lifetime it may run into problems. When prisons run into problems the solutions can come easily or they can be tough to get. When it comes to problems such as budgets and overcrowding, privatizing prisons can seem like a good idea
but sometime keeping a prison public can be the better idea. It all comes down to who has the better benefits and less disadvantages. The first thing to determine is to take a look at the public prison sector and determine if it is more beneficial than that of the private sector. The first public prisons in the United States were constructed around 1570 by Spanish soldiers in St. Augustine, Florida. It wasn’t until after the revolutionary war that there were penal reforms, some of which are still used to a degree today. When the 1830’s came around the Pennsylvania system was created, in which each inmate was keep separate from each other and it was determined that this would help each inmate on their own rehabilitation if they did not know who there were incarcerated. Over the course of American History, different means of torture were used in prisons which could and would result in deteriorated health of the inmates or a deteriorated mental health state, things such as lashes and paddles, wearing iron cages on their heads, brick bags and the water crib were used. To a more modern note, incarceration remains one of the main forms of punishment, rehabilitation or both in the United States for criminals. There are different levels of prisons within the correctional system and they are federal, state and local/community. The prisons are ran publically which allows the state and federal government to fund the prisons for the things they need while allowing the prisons to choose what to do with their funding based upon their needs. The different prisons fall into different levels based upon what type of prisoners they hold and what kind of security is needed for those inmates. The first level of security is the minimum and medium security prisons. These prisons are more relaxed about security, allowing inmates to congregate and sleep in dormitories (Vince J. De Maille - Incarceration 101 Program). The next security set up is the close security prisons. These prisons usually only have one or two inmates per cell, each cell has a sink and toilet. The inmates may leave their cells to congregate in the commons area, exercise yard or for work assignments. The next setup is the maximum security prisons. Within these prisons, the inmates all have their own cell that has a toilet and sink, some facilities require inmates to be in their cell 23 hours a day but some allow free movement in the cell block or an exterior cage. The fourth type of prison is the supermax prison. The inmates in these prisons are considered the most dangerous and therefore this prison boasts the highest security. There is only one of these facilities in the United States and it is named ADX Florence (Vince J. De Maille - Incarceration 101 Program). When looking at why prisons should be kept in public hands it is difficult to decide which arguments are best suited for which situations. When it comes to public prisons, one argument could be made that the health and safety of the prisoners can be strictly enforced by the government since it is a government owned and ran facility (Keep Prisons Public). When the government gives funding to the prisons then it becomes their prerogative to make sure that all the inmates are being treated fairly and being taken care of. When there are problems within the prisons, it could be due to cost cutting of the private prisons at the expense of safety, working conditions and pay. Safety within a prison should be the number one priority because if the prisoners are not safe then it can be certain that there will be accidents and more crime within a prison than there already are. The second argument that can be made is that there is a poorer performance within the private prisons because they are aiming to cut costs to put more money in their pockets (Keep Prisons Public).
With this being the case, the private prisons running this way, it allows them to cut their costs in specific areas, mainly safety and working conditions, this also includes cleanliness and how the prisons are performing. There was a report in 2008 that had ranked 10 of the 11 private owned prisons in the UK among the bottom quarter of all prisons. The lack of performance in private owned prisons can take its toll on the public and on the inmates
themselves. While there is much controversy surrounding privately owned prisons, it is not all bad. While private prisons are not a new development in America it is one that is saving Americans tax dollars. The first argument that is made when it comes to privatizing prisons is that is saves money in the long run. This is essentially true because when prisons become privatized, it allows them to take contracts from businesses and corporations, thus allowing them to get funding from other sources (Who Benefits When A Private Prison Comes To Town?, 2011). When prisons have other means of funding, the burden of the prisons on tax payers is diminished and this can be very beneficial is most cases because it alleviates the stress and the toll it can take on the American citizens who have to pay for the room and board of the inmates along with their electric, water, education and any bonus amenities they might be receiving such as internet or cable television. When the prisons get their funding from other sources, it allows the government to divert the fund to better causes such as repairs on roads, building libraries, hospitals, and other things the government sees they need. When the government stops funding the prisons this can also allow the government to lower tax rates among the citizens, which in turn can boost an economy because there will be more money to be spent. At Karnes County, Texas, there was a private prison built that is a 600 bed immigration detention center. During the course of the GEO Group’s time in Karnes County they give $4,000 to scholarships, $6,000 for maintenance and upkeep of the courthouse along with 140 new jobs and $150,000 in tax revenue to the city and county (Who Benefits When A Private Prison Comes To Town?, 2011). With having private prisons move into counties and rent out their beds, it provides economic boosts to the county and cities within the county. The second argument that could be made is that it reduces overcrowding in the public prisons. When there is a new private prison opened in the United States, the cell/beds are rented out to the state in which they can send prisoners from overcrowded prisons to the new prison for a cost. This can help reduce overcrowding in prisons which can in turn reduce violence and help the state fix any problem that might be going on within the government prison in that area. When prisons are overcrowded, it can cause problems for the inmates because they are being pushed into cells and common areas with an abundance of people which can lead to issues among the inmates, sometime they turn violent. When looking at most states and their prison population, they are operating at over 50% more than their capacity, 41 states were ordered to relieve their overcrowding issues or the convicts who have not served full sentences would be released, this is where the private prisons come into play. The private prisons contact the states and offer to take inmates from them to ease the overcrowding in their prisons, thus allowing the prisons to reduce their inmate population and to keep them until they have served their full sentence. With the overcrowding alleviated, it becomes easier for the state to manage their prison because they do not have the worries that there is not enough room for all of their inmates and that some of the inmates will have to be released without serving their full sentence. This also helps the states because it allows them to take some of their inmates and transfer them to a more private facility where their needs will be met while keeping their capacity population in the state prisons to keep them from being released before their time. Over the course of time, there might be some legal issues when it comes to privatizing prisons.
It has been found that some prisons in Florida have been hiding the fact that they were overcrowded in the past; this prison were erecting tents for the inmates at night, shipping them around in the morning during inspections and was only stopped when the U.S. Marshals stopped the buses and turned them in. One of the legal issues is that when a privately owned prison is created and offers to take prisoners because it can save money, they must provide a 7% savings or more. There was a privatization plan in place which was later declared illegal under a violation of the law (Reutter). It is important to remember that when privatizing prisons, the prisons must meet all standards and all employees must meet the standards plus all prison activities must fall into the realm of within the law, thus keeping the prisons on the same level as the state prisons but still allowing cost
savings. When looking at the private sector and the challenges they may face it is easy to see how some companies may be discouraged into helping the state but in all reality the challenges that they are facing are benign compared to that of the public sector. One of the hardest challenges that the private sector is facing is the negative press and the bad mouthing publically. Private prisons are only trying to help the states by reducing the costs of housing inmates while reducing the overcrowding within the state prisons, along with making a profit, like any business tries to do. When you have article after article and webpage after webpage that only highlights the negatives about a business or the private prisons, it makes it harder for the companies to get business because people are reading all of this and actually believing it, although most of it is willful bias, unfounded facts and plain ignorance. The hardest challenge faced by public sector prisons is the fact that they are losing funding and their prisons are becoming over crowded at a dangerous rate. When a prison looses funding, they have to cut necessary items in order to make up for the loss of money in other areas. When prisons are overcrowded, this can lead to more problems than the prison administrators and staff can deal with, and some of the problems can even turn violent in extreme cases.

References

Keep Prisons Public. (n.d.). Retrieved from PSA: http://www.psa.org.nz/Campaignsandissues/Privatisation/prisons.aspx
Reutter, D. M. (n.d.). Florida privides lesson in how not to privatize state prisons. Retrieved from Prison Legal News: https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/(S(5ijboo55zunfyx55t1eh2o45))/displayArticle.aspx?articleid=24135&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
Vince J. De Maille - Incarceration 101 Program. (n.d.). Retrieved from Incarceration 101: http://www.incarceration101.com/types-of-prisons.php
Who Benefits When A Private Prison Comes To Town? (2011, November 05). Retrieved from NPR: http://www.npr.org/2011/11/05/142058047/who-benefits-when-a-private-prison-comes-to-town