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Private Prisons

NCJ Number
104209
Date Published
1986
Length
0 pages
Annotation
Following an examination of the Bay County Jail (Florida), run by the private Corrections Corporation of America, panelists discuss the costs and benefits of prison privatization.
Abstract
America's jails and prisons feed and house three-quarters of a million inmates each day at a cost to taxpayers of $10 billion per year. Thus, corrections is big business. Proponents of privatization think private industry may be able to run correctional facilities more efficiently and humanely, less bureaucratically, and more cost effectively than State or local government. Opponents of privatization cite moral and legal problems associated with the government's relinquishment of its responsibility for prisoners and for the administration of justice. Some feel that there is room for privatization with special populations, such as in smaller juvenile facilities. Others recommend a middle course of openness mixed with vigilance.