Privitization of Prisons
...an build faster and cheaper facilities as well as purchase items needed more quickly and maintain lower inventories. Also, private prisons were consistently better at maintaining an orderly facility and avoiding major disturbances. In Louisiana, a study was taken on the critical incidents per year at two private prisons and one public prison. In Allen, a private prison, the incidents per year were at 7.93 percent, and at Winn, another private prison, the rate was 7.47 percent. At Avoyelles, a public prison, the rate was 15.13 percent. In addition, the working conditions at private facilities are much better because the hours are flexible and the number of inmates is fewer than that of public prisons. Furthermore, private prisons help in reducing the overcrowding that governmental prisons are facing. Although there are many positive aspects of opening privately funded prisons, there are also many negative aspects to go along with. Some people believe that there are certain responsibilities, such as public safety that only the government should meet. Involving individual companies with things such as incarceration is believed to be unconstitutional, depriving inmates of liberty, discipline, and preservation (Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction). A major issue one has to deal with in having private prisons is that private operators may be very inexperienced with key corrections issues. Also, it is very hard to form a clear-cut, straight forward contract, which may cause problems if it is not perfect. In addition, many times, private companies have incentives to cut corners, so this might cause an inhibition in performing the correct duties needed in correctional facilities. A huge problem with privately funded prisons is that the prison might go bankrupt. If they would have to shut the prison down, where would the inmates go? The public facilities are already overcrowded and have no room for any more prisoners, but they cannot be let go to run free in the streets. Fur...