An end to private prisons

[Starlight]

The Department of Justice has announced it will discontinue the use of private prisons at a federal level, following a blistering report last week that concluded they were more dangerous for both inmates and guards.*

DoJ Memo:

"Private prisons served an important role during a difficult period [when the prison population spiked], but time has shown that they compare poorly to our own Bureau facilities. They simply do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs, and resources; they do not save substantially on costs; and as noted in a recent report by the Department's Office of Inspector General, they do not maintain the same level of safety and security. The rehabilitative services that the Bureau provides, such as education programs and job training, have proved difficult to replicate and outsource, and these services are essential to reducing recidivism and improving public safety."

*Something we've also seen here in NZ, with a major scandal earlier this year where serious violence in a private prison led to the government having to intervene.

[JimL]

The Department of Justice has announced it will discontinue the use of private prisons at a federal level, following a blistering report last week that concluded they were more dangerous for both inmates and guards.*

DoJ Memo:

"Private prisons served an important role during a difficult period [when the prison population spiked], but time has shown that they compare poorly to our own Bureau facilities. They simply do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs, and resources; they do not save substantially on costs; and as noted in a recent report by the Department's Office of Inspector General, they do not maintain the same level of safety and security. The rehabilitative services that the Bureau provides, such as education programs and job training, have proved difficult to replicate and outsource, and these services are essential to reducing recidivism and improving public safety."

*Something we've also seen here in NZ, with a major scandal earlier this year where serious violence in a private prison led to the government having to intervene.

Private prisons are also vulnerable to corruption, because the sole purpose of private prisons is to make a profit. A judge in Pennsylvania pleaded guilty to recieving 2.6 million in kickbacks from the private prison industry for sending hundreds of kids to prison for the most minor of violations.

[KingsGambit]

Private prisons are also vulnerable to corruption, because the sole purpose of private prisons is to make a profit. A judge in Pennsylvania pleaded guilty to recieving 2.6 million in kickbacks from the private prison industry for sending hundreds of kids to prison for the most minor of violations.

This is exactly why prisons shouldn't be privatized.

[Starlight]

Private prisons are also vulnerable to corruption, because the sole purpose of private prisons is to make a profit. A judge in Pennsylvania pleaded guilty to recieving 2.6 million in kickbacks from the private prison industry for sending hundreds of kids to prison for the most minor of violations.

Right, I've heard many people comment that profit motive causes a perverse incentive structure for the private prison industry. To make more profit they want to:

1. Have more people in prison (they are usually paid per-prisoner, so it's financially optimal to have their prison at full capacity), which they can achieve by:
a) Bribing politicians to enact harsher sentencing laws (eg three strikes = life laws)
b) Negotiating contracts that put pressure on states to create more prisoners (eg the contract penalizes the state if the prison is not sufficiently full)
c) Bribing judges to send more prisoners to them
d) Not reforming prisoners and causing high recidivism rates in order to get the prisoners back again quickly once released.

2. Cutting down on quality, which they can achieve by:
a) Having terrible quality food, and amenities.
b) Having a very very low number of guards, causing an unsafe environment for guards and prisoners.
c) Having very few non-essential facilities and programs (e.g. libraries, jobs programs, reform programs, schooling programs, rehabilitative services etc) which in turn tends to play into a high recidivism rate (see 1d) because they don't prepare prisoners for life outside prison.
d) Treating prisoners in whatever way is easiest and cheapest for them, with little concern for the safety / health / mental well-being / rehabilitation of the prisoner.

Thus the profit motive leads to very perverse incentives being placed on the private prisons. Most of the things they are trying to optimize are not good things.

The one thing the profit motive tries to make them optimize is cost. Well, strictly speaking, they are actually trying to optimize profit which is an important different from the point of view of the state footing the bill. They are not really incentivized to try and save the state money, so much as they are incentivized to extract every penny from the state they possibly can, and transfer as much of that as possible to their own pockets rather than spending it on the care of the prisoners. It's interesting to note that the DoJ memo said private prisons "do not save substantially on costs" from the state's point of view.

Given there are a certain set of people who tend to say "we must privatize all government services, because the government is wasteful whereas a competitive free market would lower cost and improve performance", I always find it interesting to note that in cases where governments do outsource major functions (as opposed to minor ones, like say the government-run prison choosing a private caterer for their food supply) it tends to go badly (see also the US health insurance industry compared to government-run healthcare in other countries). I think the difference is that free market competition does very well in areas where there are already lots of companies and the product is simple and the incentive structure simple (e.g. the food catering industry), but that there are a few "natural monopolies" like infrastructure, healthcare, prisons, etc where the incentive structure is very complex, where there tend to be a very limited number of private companies in the field, and where any attempt at a 'market' tends to function very poorly.

[Catholicity]

One thing we've seen here that's gotten bad is privatized probation. Its been compared to debtor's prison. The Folks who end up "stuck" in the system. They have to make a certain amount of payment per month and if they lose their job or become homeless, they can end up arrested and still forced to pay the fine plus interest that's collected. It works almost like a credit card. Despite the fact that in 1983 the Supreme Court Ruled that a person cannot be ordered to spend time in prison because he/she is to poor to pay a fine, the counties where private probational services exist have very weak judicial oversight, and many folks do get sentenced to prison for minor traffic offenses. Here's the article
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investig...rt-says-n22411

[Teallaura]

Private prisons are also vulnerable to corruption, because the sole purpose of private prisons is to make a profit. A judge in Pennsylvania pleaded guilty to recieving 2.6 million in kickbacks from the private prison industry for sending hundreds of kids to prison for the most minor of violations.

All prisons are vulnerable to corruption - but it's still a bad idea to privatize a government function like prisons.

[Jaecp]

Unfortunately, Federal prisons are a minority. There are still tons at the state level

[Sparko]

This is exactly why prisons shouldn't be privatized.

yeah. Didn't any of these people watch Robocop?

[TheWall]

Privatized prisons? Sounds kinda scary.

[Cow Poke]

There has to be a sound reason to have privatized prisons. There needs to be a demonstrable benefit to society. There, is, obviously, plenty of opportunity for corruption.

Like anything else that is normally a government function, there needs to be a sound justification for doing otherwise.

[Sparko]

There has to be a sound reason to have privatized prisons. There needs to be a demonstrable benefit to society. There, is, obviously, plenty of opportunity for corruption.

Like anything else that is normally a government function, there needs to be a sound justification for doing otherwise.

Why do we need prisons anyway? Can't we just make the criminals apologize for being mean and let them go about their lives? Can't we all just get along?

[Leonhard]

Why do we need prisons anyway? Can't we just make the criminals apologize for being mean and let them go about their lives? Can't we all just get along?

Or explosive/shock/sedative collars?

[Sparko]

Or explosive/shock/sedative collars?

Or lobotomies! Then we can use them as robot slaves.

[Leonhard]

Or lobotomies! Then we can use them as robot slaves.

Doesn't make for good efficient workers. Less chance of revolution though.

[Sparko]

Doesn't make for good efficient workers. Less chance of revolution though.

We kind of already have them though. We call them "democrats" - but you are right, they are not efficient workers.