In a civil society, government should punish offenders according to objective laws; maintain its sovereignty through control of public policy, including punishment of offenders; and protect the public interest when it conflicts with individual self-interest, as in profit-motivated expansion of private correctional enterprises. The ideological arguments supporting correctional privatization are diametrically opposed to the proper role of government in a civil society. The arguments that support private prisons and jails are rooted in the self-interest of correctional enterprise rather than public interest. But the practice is legal and constitutional and is here to stay. However, if privatization is to be used, it should augment, not replace, public confinement. If decisionmakers bear in mind the proper role of the government, they will make better decisions about the use of correctional privatization. Notes