The more inmates the private prison houses and the longer the sentence, the more money the company will receive from the government. The government is responsible to ensure the prisoners constitutional rights are not violated in either type of prison. The government has no control over how the private prisons are operated. Privatization is removing the government from the business altogether. Private prisons are not a new concept, but rather just beginning to reappear after many years.
WHY SHOULD WE LET COMPANIES PRIVATIZE PRISONS IN AMERICA? The prison industrial complex is an ever growing topic of discussion in the United States as the use of private prisons is becoming more prevalent for housing inmates. This is because as Richard Harbison states, “Private operators can design, build and operate a prison cheaper than the government, be it state or the federal government.” (Cohn) However this idea of saving money is a point of debate, because the United States currently has more inmates than any other country in the world, "perhaps half a million more than China" (Schlosser), we are constantly in need to continue to house more an more inmates and ways to pay for them. Over the last half century the rate of incarcerated individuals has gone from 110 per 100,000 people to a rate of 445 per 100,000 to even 1,100 per 100,000 among adult men (Schlosser). This large increase in the rate of incarceration is the biggest dertermining factor for the rise of private prisons in the US and because the United States has setup a system in which we are putting people in prison at a much faster rate than anywhere else in the world private prisons have become more and more acceptable.
Are the Poor people committing more crimes than the Rich? Fact: The rich commit far more crime than the poor and evades Punishment. Most economists writings I read have a glib answer: Poor people are more often arrested and charged for committing crimes, but the fact is that the master minds under all these crimes, or the people who encourage the poor to do these crimes are often the high class people. Crime is just one of many, many "social pathologies" that are more often over-represented among the poor: alcoholism, drug abuse, obesity, illegitimacy, etc. And of course none of these are good escape routes from poverty and we all believe in the term "poverty causes crime".
Most private prison contracts provide for an on-site public sector monitor who has complete and unrestricted access, at all times, to all facility employees, offenders, records, and information (Zito, 2003). The greatest single concern with prison privatization is that private prison companies save money by hiring non-union employees, who are willing to work for less pay (Zito, 2003).. These are significant savings since labor accounts for about two thirds of the cost of operating an average prison. However, the result is that security staffs at private prisons have less experience and higher turnover rates than those at public prisons (Zito, 2003). There are many things that make a prison run smoothly and soundly.
Sweatshops have always been an issue within the Apparel Industry; companies seek out cheap alternatives to having mass production of clothing for cheaper rates. Merchandise buyers seek out the cheapest manufacturers of products that are high on demand, causing them to purchase from manufacturers that operate illegal sweatshops. A number of manufacturing companies exclusively deal with the exploitation of workers for their own economical benefit. This issue sadly affects everyone worldwide, especially in Asian countries because the government does not enforce laws against sweatshops. The Apparel Industry is the most affected because of this; workers are obligated to work long shifts without any consideration of their well-being.
Apart from it being a prime destination for travelers, the United States has turned out to be the excellent platform for most of the criminal dealings. The crime in question being human trafficking has made the citizens and the travelers a concerned lot while others shun the region. Human trafficking is the illegal trade in human beings with the aim of getting cheap labor and commercial sex workers. The business of human trafficking goes unnoticed to many people because its operations are done underground by high skilled manipulators. It is identifiable by its level of
The true winners of the ‘War on Drugs’ were not the American citizens, rather it was private prison operators and politicians. The biggest winner from an increasing amount of incarcerations has been private prison operators. Companies such as CoreCivic and Aramark have become billion dollar companies through the increased rate of incarcerations in the United States. CoreCivic operates as a private prison in the United States, taking on prisoners from
The industry, along with many other sectors including defence, has been quietly outsourcing the production site overseas, where the labour market is a lot cheaper. Seeking for an even more drastic cut in workers’ wages, prison labour later became a more attractive option for outsourcing domestically. Prison labour with no union protection, overtime regulations, day-offs, pensions, health and safety protection, and other benefits a normal employee is entitled of could be paid as low as 23 cents an hour in US federal prisons . These were some of the lowest labour pay rate in the world, while the finished products were sold at the highest rates of profit. However, dividends to only a handful of CEO and top stockholders at top military corporations actually surpassed the total wages being paid to the more than 23,000 imprisoned workers who produced UNICOR products.
With poverty being the most substantial factor in this writer’s opinion, because one can remove all other facets and keep only poverty, which still puts this particular social class in the most prevalent community to commit deviant acts. Although, with this research it has been found that another median exist that is not viewed as the standard definition of crime and punishment. However, is more powerful and more imposing on social norms then we as a society are willing to acknowledge and comprehend. Moreover, the median in question is greed and power that can be looked at through the history of this or any other culture or nation. With how to contain a growing population of prisoners America has transformed from a publicly or governmentally run prison facilities, into a shift to ever growing for profit private prison institution systems.
Prison Term Policy Recommendation Stephanie Swalve CJA 314 October 2, 2011 Shawna Olachea What comes to mind when you hear the word prison? Prison is a place for criminals that have done wrong doings are punished. Many think that the prison system is a financial burden on the economy. Many others may think that the prison system is justified as it provides a place for criminals and guarantees protection to society from the individuals that pose a threat to other people. No matter what people believe the prisons here in the United States are becoming more and more over populated at high rates that even professionals have debated on what steps that they can take in order to get the population of prisons down to where they need to be.