Private Prisons

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The article “Don’t end federal private prisons” written August 19, 2016 by Sasha Volokh is an article arguing for the continuation of private prisons after the Department of Justice announced that it would gradually end their use. Volokh counterargues claims that private prisons do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs, and resources that public prisons do. Volokh argues that private prisons have potential to improve and we should, “Mend it, don’t end it.” While the idea of mending private prisons rather than ending them might sound like a reasonable idea, but it will simply prolong the problems revolving around private prisons rather than ending them entirely. No matter what changes are made a for profit prison will …show more content…
Extensive quality improvement requirements could be put in place, but the problem will always remain that the owners of these prisons will always try to cut cost as much as they possibly can. Meaning that prisons might be less able to produce an environment that helps to rehabilitate its inmates. In fact might very well make for prisoners leaving more damaged and more likely to commit crimes after their sentences. A study from 2005 found that out of roughly 400 thousand prisoners released 56.7 percent would be rearrested within the first year and 76.6 within five years. (nig.gov) 2005 was quite some time ago but if the percentages today are in the ball park of what they were then the problem remains. This might be seen as a bad to many but not so much for the prisons because high recidivism makes a more secure future for their business. This makes for a conflict of interests. It is the interest of the corporations to increase …show more content…
When signing contracts with the government the government agrees to pay a private prison a certain amount of money per prisoner. This cost is less than it would cost the government to house a prisoner in a public prison but it is also more money than a private prison spends on a prisoner so long as there is a certain percentage of inmates in the prison at all times. (Investopedia) To guarantee that there are enough prisoners in the prison a minimum occupancy requirement is establish in the contract with the governments, which in most contracts is between 80 and 100 percent occupancy at all times. (mother jones) If the occupancy drops below the agreed upon amount than the government will have to pay for the empty beds. (NJJN) Whether crime rates rise or fall the government has an incentive or at least is less likely to hesitate to send a person to prison if there are beds to be
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