PRISON PRIVATIZATION

Analysis of Privatization

Analysis of Privatization

Introduction

Privatization, generally, is the withdrawal or shifting of the government's assets, functions, activities, and possibly entire institutions to the private sector. In prison, privatization occurs when local, state, and national policies are enacted that support free market entry into the public domain of prison. Four types of prison policies can result in privatization: (1) the cessation or disengagement of the government from responsibilities in providing prison goods and services, (2) the explicit transfers of public prison assets to private ownership, (3) the financing of private prison services through contracting-out or vouchers, and (4) the deregulation of entry into activities, previously restricted to public providers, to private entities. Moreover, privatization relates to the process of transferring possession of an agency from a government entity to a private sector. This innovative approach of outsourcing services is controversial, notably in the law enforcement realm. Privatization in adult correctional facilities has impacted the criminal justice system in numerous ways as it impacts cost effectiveness, security, and poses potential ethical dilemmas. There are stakeholders involved in privatization that supports private prisons and there are those who are against this type of administration. Administrators of correctional facilities must analyze the pros and cons of privatization to ensure that prisoners are receiving proper punishment while adhering to inmates' constitutional rights.

History

After the inception of private prisons in America in the mid 1980s, it has evoked a number of assaults of hearings in the congress and hundreds of articles have been published that had discussed its organizational, philosophical, legal, and economic deductions. At the end of the year 2001, private prison facilities were managing around six percent of the total delinquents from all over the country and were presenting a huge number of juvenile delinquents. Hearings in congress on the topic of private prison from that year onwards and nearly every professional association for criminal justice have taken a strong stand on this issue. In spite of, protests of a number of people from all over the country, privatization of juvenile justice system have kept on keeping them abreast since that time.

Although the various forms of private reforms fall under the heading of privatization, there is no single privatization plan throughout the United States as a result of the history of local and state control in public prisons. Before addressing the controversy in privatization, it is essential to examine the history and emergence of private prisons. Prior to the opening of the first fully functioning private prison, private contracts were introduced. Private contracts were used during the 1980s to provide different services in prisons such as mental health services, substance abuse counseling, and educational programs. In 1984, Corrections of America integrated the first private contract in Hamilton County, Tennessee. This contract consisted of a two hundred fifty-bed facility. Shortly thereafter, there rapid increase of privatization began.

January 6, 1986 by the United States Corrections Corporation in Marion, Kentucky a fully functional private correctional institution was ...