NCJ Number
134107
Date Published
1990
Length
326 pages
Annotation
Privatization in corrections is examined critically with emphasis on the issues of propriety, cost, quality, quantity, flexibility, security, liability, accountability, corruption, and dependence and is advocated as an effective means of ensuring a criminal justice system that is safe, humane, efficient, and just.
Abstract
The discussion notes the tendency to compare private correctional institutions with a hypothetical idea. Instead, private prisons should be evaluated in comparison to publicly operated prisons. The political corruption and physical abuse of inmates that occurs in commercially operated correctional facilities is experienced equally by public institutions. Furthermore, every potential problem with private prisons is at least matched by an identical or a closely corresponding problem among prisons that are operated by the government. The problems of private prisons exist because they are prisons, not because they are operated under contracts. Therefore, private prisons should be allowed to compete and cooperate with government agencies to make it possible to determine how best to operate effective and humane prisons. Chapter reference lists, index, and 90 references (Publisher summary modified)