The Emergence of the Problem

The privatization of governmental services has increased dramatically in the past decade as local, state, and federal agencies have searched for ways to cut costs while still meeting their mandated responsibility to provide various services. The practice of privatization has been extended to basic public works and infrastructure such as garbage collection, water and sewer, electric power, and building and highway construction (Samson, 1994). Privatization has also moved into the arena of human services and social policy, with a growing privatization of the health care industry, pension plan management, and, most recently, the public welfare system (Carroll, Conant, & Easton,1987; De Hoog, 1994).

The criminal justice system has been similarly affected by this trend, with a growing movement to privatize correctional facilities at all levels of government (Logan, 1990; Bowman, Simon & Sidenstat, 1992; Shichor, 1995). The trend has continued not without controversy and debate over the propriety and legality of contracting out correctional services to the private sector. The debate continues on several fronts, including economics (is it cheaper?), law (is it legal?), politics (is it good public policy?), ethics (is it right?), and criminology (does it constitute sound correctional practice?). While people in general may care little who collects their garbage or who sweeps out the Social Security office, the notion of private companies running prisons does not set well with many folks. As Geis explains:

In part, this is because prison privatization calls for giving the private sector enormous direct control over the lives of a captive human population. Prisoners cannot walk away, cannot resign, from a situation they find abhorrent. They did not elect to be where they are (unless we presume that by their behavior they asked for it), and they certainly cannot elect to go elsewhere because they want to (Geis,1987).

Newspaper articles from around the country signal a general ambivalence and suspicion regarding private prisons, as the following sample of recent news clippings attests:

TOWNS EXPECT PRIVATE JAIL CONSTRUCTION SOON//OWEN,
STANLEY, MAUSTON ARE THE FRONT-RUNNERS
(ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 11/07/97)

LOSS OF PRISONERS HURTS TEXAS TOWN
* AS STATES PULL PRISONERS OUT OF THE PRIVATE FACILITY,
RESIDENTS LOSE ITS BIGGEST EMPLOYER AND CONCERNS ABOUT
PRIVATIZATION RISE
(THE WICHITA EAGLE, 08/24/97)

MEXICO SPURNS STATE PRISON PLAN
PRIVATELY RUN JAIL WOULD HOUSE DEPORTED FELONS
( SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 08/16/97)

INVESTORS TRY TO LOCK UP MORE STOCK IN A NEW TYPE OF REIT
THE TRUST HAS ITS MONEY IN PRIVATE PRISONS. SOME SEE
THAT AS A GROWING MARKET. OTHERS FORESEE CONFLICTS
( PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 07/20/97)

PRIVATE PRISONS BOUND FOR ALAMO, NICHOLLS TO ADD JOBS,
SAVE MONEY
(THE MACON TELEGRAPH, 04/27/97)

TAKING OVER STATE PRISONS
GROUPS SAY PRIVATIZATION WOULD SAVE MILLIONS
(THE MIAMI HERALD, 03/09/97)

Meanwhile, the adult correctional population in the United States has grown by an average of 7.8% per year from 1985 to 1996, to a current population of over 1.6 million prisoners:

Since 1990, the rate of incarceration has grown from 461 per 100,000 U.S. residents to 615 per 100,000. By midyear 1996, one in every one hundred sixty-one U.S. residents was incarcerated (BJS, 1997). In response to this trend, the number of new prisons continues to grow, consuming an increasing share of government revenues (McDonald, 1991). Private prisons have blossomed along with the increasing incarceration rate, with the number of prison beds in private facilities growing in each of the last ten years, from 2,620 in 1986 to 84,272 beds at the end of 1996. Private prisons are presently operating with a gross revenue in excess of $500 million (The Privatization Research Site, 1997).

In summary, prison privatization has emerged as a controversial public policy issue within a national political climate characterized by goverment downsizing and escalating prison populations. Reaction to the private prison controversy has been extensive as proponents and opponents of correctional privatization offer varying arguments and evidence to support their divergent positions. Please move on to the section marked "assessment" for a discussion of the prison privatization issue from various perspectives of the debate.