Instant Inmate Search
Private Prisons
Table of Contents
The corrections institutions in the US range from jails to prisons, and include juvenile facilities, city and state jails, and federal and state prisons. Each of these facility types has its own structure, management, funding sources, and they house a variety of offenders who may be at different milestones of trial, sentencing, and serving the time needed to fulfill their sentences. Yet another characterization for prisons in the US is whether they are private or public. The use of private prisons and jails in the US has drawn a lot of attention, and remains a polarizing topic of discussion.
What are Private Prisons?
Private prisons are incarceration facilities that are privately owned and run. Private prison businesses can bid on state and federal contracts that involve incarceration institutions, and for the contracted cost, take over providing full prison services that entity is seeking. Private prison companies own or rent their own prison buildings, provide food, education programs, and healthcare to the prison populations they serve.
Over 120,000US prisoners were in private prisons in 2017, which is 8.2% of the total state and federal prison population. The use of private prisons is growing – there has been an increase of over 40% for the number of people housed in private prisons for state and federal incarceration.
How do Private Prisons Differ from Public Ones?
The most important distinction between private and public prisons is that private prisons are businesses that seeks to make a profit and satisfy their shareholders. Public prisons are run by state and federal departments, and while they have budget implications, they do not have the additional focus of generating a profit and ensuring their bottom line is healthy. When the goal of profit is added to the equation, the mission changes. Where public prisons are far from perfect, they still work toward the main goals of increasing public safety and rehabilitating its prisoners. It can and has been argued that having profit goals pushes more important goals such as prison safety and quality of life to the back burner, while costing tax payers more in many cases. Statistics support this argument, and point to additional nuances that relateto prisons needing to meet profit goals:
- A 2016 Department of Justice (DOJ) review concluded that private prisons had 28% more inmate-on-inmate violence and over 50%more inmate-on-staff violence compared with federally run prisons
- The same review found that for-profit prisons in the US were more likely to compromise inmates’ security and rights
- If private prison facilities are not at capacity, many of their contracts with state and federal governments require them to be paid for empty beds.
- Private prisons sometimes reject prisoners who may be more expensive to house, such as violent offenders requiring additional security.
While private and public prisons are supposed to deliver a certain level of housing, healthcare, and services to inmates, private prisons face less scrutiny and oversight than public facilities.
How Lucrative is the Private Prison Business?
Private prison companies can make a very strong profit, and their revenues have been on a steady increasing slope. A couple of examples include:
- The Geo Group, Inc., made $1.6 billion in total revenue in 2011
- The Corrections Corporation of America reported $1.9 billion in revenue for 2015, and made more than $221 million in net income—more than $3,300 for each prisoner in its care.
Though the Obama administration was advocating for the end of private prison use, the Trump administration has greatly increased private prison use, largely through utilizing them to house migrants seeking asylum in the US.
Examples of Private Prison Issues
In addition to debates and financial statistics that pertain to private prisons, there have been some real-life examples of private prison inequities. These include private prison providers, as well as service providers for prisons.
- Corizon, a private prison medical services business was accused of cheating Arizona state monitors and losing the account to another private company.
- The “Kids for Cash” scandal was uncovered in 2009. Two Pennsylvania judges were discovered to have been accepting bribes from the owner of two private juvenile detention centers for sentencing juvenile offenders to time in those centers.
- Detention centers housing illegal immigrants have been reported to lack basics like blankets, soap, and beds. Deaths linked to poor facilities and neglect have been reported at these facilities, and have involved both adult and minor detainees.
While private prisons are a complicated topic to consider, some argue that they are necessary so that the US can continue to meet its incarceration needs. At the same time, private prison companies have spent considerable time and money lobbying for laws that would increase the prisoner pool, again drawing criticism and questions about ethics and conflicts of interest. It will be interesting to see whether the US continue to utilize private prisons, or if it will work to end the use of private prisons.