Private prison
Encyclopedia
A private prison
, jail, or detention center is a place in which individuals are physically confined or interned by a third party that is contracted by a government agency. Private prison companies typically enter into contractual agreements with governments that commit prisoners and then pay a per diem or monthly rate for each prisoner confined in the facility.
Today, the privatization of prisons refers both to the takeover of existing public facilities by private operators and to the building and operation of new and additional prisons by for-profit prison companies.
was the first country in all of Europe to use private prisons to hold its prisoners. Wolds Prison
opened as the first privately managed prison in the UK in 1992. Soon private prisons were established under the government's Private Finance Initiative
, where contracts are awarded for the entire design, construction, management and finance of a prison.
is the only purpose-built private prison for women in the United Kingdom, and is the largest female prison in Europe. All private prisons in the UK are regularly inspected by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons
in the same way as public sector prisons. All private prisons have a 'Controller' linking them to the Ministry of Justice
, and the governors of private prisons are called 'Directors'.
opened in 1999 and was the first private prison in the UK to house young offenders. The prison was soon mired in controversy after repeated riots and reports of poor management. Conditions at the prison became so bad in 2003 that the Youth Justice Board
withdrew prisoners from Ashfield, and threatened to recommend that the prison should be taken over by the public sector
. Conditions at the prison improved however and the jail remained privately managed. Buckley Hall Prison
was originally opened as a privately managed prison in 1994, but after a competitive tendering process in 2000, management of the prison was transferred to Her Majesty's Prison Service
. Buckley Hall is therefore (so far) the only private prison in the UK to be permanently taken into the public sector.
The partial transfer of San Quentin prison administration from private to public did not mark the end of privatization. The next phase began with the Reconstruction Period (1865–1876) in the south, after the end of the Civil War. Farmers and businessmen needed to find replacements for the labor force once their slaves had been freed. Beginning in 1868, convict lease
s were issued to private parties to supplement their workforce. This system remained in place until the early 20th century.
and increased use of incarceration, prison overcrowding and rising costs became increasingly problematic for local, state, and federal governments. In response to this expanding criminal justice system, private business interests saw an opportunity for expansion, and consequently, private-sector involvement in prisons moved from the simple contracting of services to contracting for the complete management and operation of entire prisons.
The modern private prison business first emerged and established itself publicly in 1984 when the Corrections Corporation of America
(CCA) was awarded a contract to take over a facility in Hamilton County, Tennessee
. This marked the first time that any government in the country had contracted out the complete operation of a jail to a private operator. The following year, CCA gained further public attention when it offered to take over the entire state prison system of Tennessee for $200 million. The bid was ultimately defeated due to strong opposition from public employees and the skepticism of the state legislature. Despite that initial defeat, CCA since then has successfully expanded, as have other for-profit prison companies. As of December 2000, there were 153 private correctional facilities (prisons, jails and detention centers) operating in the United States with a capacity of over 119,000.
, the GEO Group
, Inc, and Community Education Centers. The GEO Group was formerly known as Wackenhut Securities.
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) has a capacity of more than 80,000 beds in 65 correctional facilities. The GEO Group operates 61 facilities with a capacity of 49,000 offender beds,
Most privately run facilities are located in the southern and western portions of the United States and include both state and federal offenders.
Others have suggested that cost savings come at the expense of security. In the wake of the escape of three murderers
from the minimum/medium security Kingman Prison, Arizona
operated by Management and Training Corporation
(MTC) attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Terry Goddard
said "I believe a big part of our problem is that the very violent inmates, like the three that escaped, ended up getting reclassified [as a lower risk] quickly and sent to private prisons that were just not up to the job."The private prison had inadequate patrols and prisoner movement, excessive false alarms, a lax culture, and inconsistencies in visitor screening procedures.
One escapee was also involved in a Colorado shootout, where he was captured by a deputy and police in Rifle Colorado. Though he still "owed" Arizona 32 years on his sentence, he was sentenced to sixty years to be served first in Colorado.
The state of Arizona, as well as Dominion, an Edmunds, Oklahoma corporation that spec-built the prison, and MTC that managed it, are being sued for $40 million by the family of Gary and Linda Haas, retirees who were murdered in New Mexico by the fugitives. The remaining two escapees and their accomplice are being held on federal murder charges in New Mexico. The three were first convicted of hijackings, kidnappings and robberies in Arizona and charged with the same in New Mexico. The ringleader and his accomplice also committed a robbery in Arkansas.
and United Methodist Church
have also joined the call, as well as the Catholic Bishops of the South organization.
Proponents of privately run prisons contend that cost-savings and efficiency of operation place private prisons at an advantage over public prisons and support the argument for privatization, but some research casts doubt on the validity of these arguments, as evidence has shown that private prisons are neither demonstrably more cost-effective, nor more efficient than public prisons. An evaluation of 24 different studies on cost-effectiveness revealed that, at best, results of the question are inconclusive and, at worst, there is no difference in cost-effectiveness.
A study by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics found that the cost-savings promised by private prisons “have simply not materialized.” Some research has concluded that for-profit prisons cost more than public prisons. Furthermore, cost estimates from privatization advocates may be misleading, because private facilities often refuse to accept inmates that cost the most to house. A 2001 study concluded that a pattern of sending less expensive inmates to privately-run facilities artificially inflated cost savings. A 2005 study found that Arizona’s public facilities were seven times more likely to house violent offenders and three times more likely to house those convicted of more serious offenses.
Evidence suggests that lower staff levels and training at private facilities may lead to increases in incidences of violence and escapes. A nationwide study found that assaults on guards by inmates were 49 percent more frequent in private prisons than in government-run prisons. The same study revealed that assaults on fellow inmates were 65 percent more frequent in private prisons.
CCA is and formerly The GEO Group have been major contributors to the American Legislative Exchange Council
(ALEC), a Washington, D.C. based public policy organization that develops model legislation that advances tough-on-crime legislation and free-market principles such as privatization.
Under their Criminal Justice Task Force, ALEC has developed and helped to successfully implement in many states “tough on crime” initiatives including “Truth in Sentencing” and “Three Strikes” laws. Corporations provide most of the funding for ALEC’s operating budget and influence its political agenda through participation in policy task forces. ALEC’s corporate funders include CCA and The GEO Group. In 1999, CCA made the President’s List for contributions to ALEC’s States and National Policy Summit; Wackenhut (predecessor to GEO Group) also sponsored the conference. Past cochairs of the Criminal Justice Task Force have included Brad Wiggins, then Director of Business Development at CCA and now a Senior Director of Site Acquisition, and John Rees, a former CCA vice president. On November 11th, 2010, GEO's outgoing COO Wayne Calabrese, told a large community gathering at a middle school in Bangor, Pennsylvania, that GEO had withdrawn from ALEC years earlier because of the obvious conflict of interest involved in creating legislation that insured an increased supply of prisoners. CCA and GEO have both engaged in state initiatives to increase sentences for offenders and to create new crimes, however, CCA helping to finance Proposition 6 in California in 2008 and GEO lobbying for Jessica's Law in Kansas in 2006.
By funding and participating in ALEC’s Criminal Justice Task Forces, critics argue, private prison companies directly influence legislation for tougher, longer sentences. The legal system may also be manipulated more directly: in the Kids for cash scandal
, Mid-Atlantic Youth Services Corp, a private prison company was found guilty of paying two judges $2.6m to send 2000 children to their prisons.
Legislation passed with links to private prisons, reported in the media: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130833741
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130891396
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2010/11/17/1724396/commentary-was-arizonas-immigration.html
http://www.kpho.com/news/24834877/detail.html
i Knesset
passed a law permitting the establishment of private prisons in Israel. The State's motivation was to save money by transferring prisoners to facilities managed by a private firm. The state would pay the franchisee $50 per day for each inmate, sparing itself the cost of building new prisons and expanding the staff of the Israel Prison Service
. In 2005, the human rights department of the Academic College of Law in Ramat Gan filed a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court challenging the law. The petition relied on two arguments. First, it said, transferring prison powers to private hands would violate the prisoners' fundamental human rights to liberty and dignity. Secondly, a private organization always aims to maximize profit, and would therefore seek to cut costs by, for instance, skimping on prison facilities and paying its guards poorly, thus further undermining the prisoners' rights. As the case awaited decision, the first prison was built by the concessionaire, Lev Leviev
's Africa-Israel - a facility near Beersheba
planned to accommodate 2,000 prisoners.
In November 2009, an expanded panel of 9 judges of the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that privately run prisons are unconstitutional, finding that for the State to transfer authority for managing the prison to a private contractor whose aim is monetary profit would severely violate the prisoners' basic human rights to dignity and freedom. Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch
, wrote that "Israel's basic legal principles hold that the right to use force in general, and the right to enforce criminal law by putting people behind bars in particular, is one of the most fundamental and one of the most invasive powers in the state's jurisdiction. Thus when the power to incarcerate is transferred to a private corporation whose purpose is making money, the act of depriving a person of his liberty loses much of its legitimacy. Because of this loss of legitimacy, the violation of the prisoner's right to liberty goes beyond the violation entailed in the incarceration itself."
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
, jail, or detention center is a place in which individuals are physically confined or interned by a third party that is contracted by a government agency. Private prison companies typically enter into contractual agreements with governments that commit prisoners and then pay a per diem or monthly rate for each prisoner confined in the facility.
Today, the privatization of prisons refers both to the takeover of existing public facilities by private operators and to the building and operation of new and additional prisons by for-profit prison companies.
History of private prisons in the United Kingdom
In the modern era, the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
was the first country in all of Europe to use private prisons to hold its prisoners. Wolds Prison
Wolds (HM Prison)
HM Prison Wolds is a Category C men's private prison, located south west of Everthorpe, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The prison is operated by G4S, and is situated next to HMP Everthorpe.-History:...
opened as the first privately managed prison in the UK in 1992. Soon private prisons were established under the government's Private Finance Initiative
Private Finance Initiative
The private finance initiative is a way of creating "public–private partnerships" by funding public infrastructure projects with private capital...
, where contracts are awarded for the entire design, construction, management and finance of a prison.
Private prisons in the United Kingdom today
Today there are 11 private prisons in the United Kingdom, managed by private companies G4S, Serco and Sodexo Justice Services. These prisons are an important part in the UK's prison estate; Bronzefield PrisonBronzefield (HM Prison)
HMP Bronzefield is a Category A adult and young offender female's prison located on the outskirts of Ashford in Surrey, England. Bronzefield is the only purpose-built private prison solely for women in the UK, and is the largest female prison in Europe...
is the only purpose-built private prison for women in the United Kingdom, and is the largest female prison in Europe. All private prisons in the UK are regularly inspected by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons
Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons
Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons is the head of HM Inspectorate of Prisons and the senior inspector of prisons, young offender institutions and immigration service detention and removal centres in England and Wales...
in the same way as public sector prisons. All private prisons have a 'Controller' linking them to the Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Justice is a ministerial department of the UK Government headed by the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, who is responsible for improvements to the justice system so that it better serves the public...
, and the governors of private prisons are called 'Directors'.
Criticisms
Not all private prisons in the United Kingdom have been successful. Ashfield PrisonAshfield (HM Prison)
HM Prison Ashfield is a male juvenile's prison located in the village of Pucklechurch , in Gloucestershire, England. The prison is operated by the Serco Group....
opened in 1999 and was the first private prison in the UK to house young offenders. The prison was soon mired in controversy after repeated riots and reports of poor management. Conditions at the prison became so bad in 2003 that the Youth Justice Board
Youth Justice Board
The Youth Justice Board for England and Wales is an executive non-departmental public body, funded by and reporting to the Ministry of Justice and Department for Education and Skills...
withdrew prisoners from Ashfield, and threatened to recommend that the prison should be taken over by the public sector
Public sector
The public sector, sometimes referred to as the state sector, is a part of the state that deals with either the production, delivery and allocation of goods and services by and for the government or its citizens, whether national, regional or local/municipal.Examples of public sector activity range...
. Conditions at the prison improved however and the jail remained privately managed. Buckley Hall Prison
Buckley Hall (HM Prison)
HM Prison Buckley Hall is a Category C men's prison, located in the Buckley district of Rochdale in Greater Manchester, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.-History:...
was originally opened as a privately managed prison in 1994, but after a competitive tendering process in 2000, management of the prison was transferred to Her Majesty's Prison Service
Her Majesty's Prison Service
Her Majesty's Prison Service is a part of the National Offender Management Service of the Government of the United Kingdom tasked with managing most of the prisons within England and Wales...
. Buckley Hall is therefore (so far) the only private prison in the UK to be permanently taken into the public sector.
Early history of prison privatization in the United States
The privatization movement can be traced to the contracting out of confinement and care of prisoners after the American Revolution. Deprived of the ability to ship criminals and undesirables to the Colonies, Great Britain began placing them on hulks moored in English ports.The partial transfer of San Quentin prison administration from private to public did not mark the end of privatization. The next phase began with the Reconstruction Period (1865–1876) in the south, after the end of the Civil War. Farmers and businessmen needed to find replacements for the labor force once their slaves had been freed. Beginning in 1868, convict lease
Convict lease
Convict leasing was a system of penal labor practiced in the Southern United States, beginning with the emancipation of slaves at the end of the American Civil War in 1865, peaking around 1880, and ending in the last state, Alabama, in 1928....
s were issued to private parties to supplement their workforce. This system remained in place until the early 20th century.
Development of private prisons in the United States
Federal and state government has a long history of contracting out specific services to private firms, including medical services, food preparation, vocational training, and inmate transportation. The 1980s, though, ushered in a new era of prison privatization. With a burgeoning prison population resulting from the War on DrugsWar on Drugs
The War on Drugs is a campaign of prohibition and foreign military aid and military intervention being undertaken by the United States government, with the assistance of participating countries, intended to both define and reduce the illegal drug trade...
and increased use of incarceration, prison overcrowding and rising costs became increasingly problematic for local, state, and federal governments. In response to this expanding criminal justice system, private business interests saw an opportunity for expansion, and consequently, private-sector involvement in prisons moved from the simple contracting of services to contracting for the complete management and operation of entire prisons.
The modern private prison business first emerged and established itself publicly in 1984 when the Corrections Corporation of America
Corrections Corporation of America
Corrections Corporation of America is a company that owns and manages private prisons and detention centers and operates others on a concession basis. The company is the largest private corrections company in the United States and manages more than 60 facilities with a designed capacity of 90,000...
(CCA) was awarded a contract to take over a facility in Hamilton County, Tennessee
Hamilton County, Tennessee
Hamilton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It was named for Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury. The 2005 Census Estimate placed the population at 310,935 . Its county seat is Chattanooga....
. This marked the first time that any government in the country had contracted out the complete operation of a jail to a private operator. The following year, CCA gained further public attention when it offered to take over the entire state prison system of Tennessee for $200 million. The bid was ultimately defeated due to strong opposition from public employees and the skepticism of the state legislature. Despite that initial defeat, CCA since then has successfully expanded, as have other for-profit prison companies. As of December 2000, there were 153 private correctional facilities (prisons, jails and detention centers) operating in the United States with a capacity of over 119,000.
Private prisons in the United States today
Private companies in the United States operate 264 correctional facilities, housing almost 99,000 adult convicts. Companies operating such facilities include the Corrections Corporation of AmericaCorrections Corporation of America
Corrections Corporation of America is a company that owns and manages private prisons and detention centers and operates others on a concession basis. The company is the largest private corrections company in the United States and manages more than 60 facilities with a designed capacity of 90,000...
, the GEO Group
GEO Group
The GEO Group, Inc. is a company headquartered in One Park Place, Boca Raton, Florida. GEO is a multi-national provider of governmental services specializing in the management of correctional, detention and mental health and residential treatment in North America, Australia, South Africa and the...
, Inc, and Community Education Centers. The GEO Group was formerly known as Wackenhut Securities.
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) has a capacity of more than 80,000 beds in 65 correctional facilities. The GEO Group operates 61 facilities with a capacity of 49,000 offender beds,
Most privately run facilities are located in the southern and western portions of the United States and include both state and federal offenders.
Cost/Benefit analysis
Industry-funded studies often conclude that states can save money by using private prisons. However, state-funded studies have found that private prisons keep only low-cost inmates and send others back to state-run prisons.Others have suggested that cost savings come at the expense of security. In the wake of the escape of three murderers
2010 jail break in Mohave County, Arizona
On July 30, 2010, three inmates — Tracy Province, Daniel Renwick, and John McCluskey — escaped from the Kingman Arizona State Prison, a for-profit medium security prison, owned by the Mohave County Industrial Development Authority and operated by Utah's Management & Training Corporation. A female...
from the minimum/medium security Kingman Prison, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
operated by Management and Training Corporation
Management and Training Corporation
Management and Training Corporation or MTC is a Utah-based contractor that manages private prisons and provides vocational training. It is involved in the U.S. Job Corps program. The company made headlines in 2010 after three convicted murderers escaped from one of its prisons.-History:MTC was...
(MTC) attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Terry Goddard
Terry Goddard
Samuel Pearson "Terry" Goddard III was the Attorney General of Arizona, from 2003 to 2011, who also served as Mayor of Phoenix, Arizona from 1984 to 1990....
said "I believe a big part of our problem is that the very violent inmates, like the three that escaped, ended up getting reclassified [as a lower risk] quickly and sent to private prisons that were just not up to the job."The private prison had inadequate patrols and prisoner movement, excessive false alarms, a lax culture, and inconsistencies in visitor screening procedures.
One escapee was also involved in a Colorado shootout, where he was captured by a deputy and police in Rifle Colorado. Though he still "owed" Arizona 32 years on his sentence, he was sentenced to sixty years to be served first in Colorado.
The state of Arizona, as well as Dominion, an Edmunds, Oklahoma corporation that spec-built the prison, and MTC that managed it, are being sued for $40 million by the family of Gary and Linda Haas, retirees who were murdered in New Mexico by the fugitives. The remaining two escapees and their accomplice are being held on federal murder charges in New Mexico. The three were first convicted of hijackings, kidnappings and robberies in Arizona and charged with the same in New Mexico. The ringleader and his accomplice also committed a robbery in Arkansas.
Criticisms
Many organizations have called for a moratorium on construction of private prisons, or for their outright abolition. The religious denominations Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
The Presbyterian Church , or PC, is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. Part of the Reformed tradition, it is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S...
and United Methodist Church
United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which is both mainline Protestant and evangelical. Founded in 1968 by the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley...
have also joined the call, as well as the Catholic Bishops of the South organization.
Proponents of privately run prisons contend that cost-savings and efficiency of operation place private prisons at an advantage over public prisons and support the argument for privatization, but some research casts doubt on the validity of these arguments, as evidence has shown that private prisons are neither demonstrably more cost-effective, nor more efficient than public prisons. An evaluation of 24 different studies on cost-effectiveness revealed that, at best, results of the question are inconclusive and, at worst, there is no difference in cost-effectiveness.
A study by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics found that the cost-savings promised by private prisons “have simply not materialized.” Some research has concluded that for-profit prisons cost more than public prisons. Furthermore, cost estimates from privatization advocates may be misleading, because private facilities often refuse to accept inmates that cost the most to house. A 2001 study concluded that a pattern of sending less expensive inmates to privately-run facilities artificially inflated cost savings. A 2005 study found that Arizona’s public facilities were seven times more likely to house violent offenders and three times more likely to house those convicted of more serious offenses.
Evidence suggests that lower staff levels and training at private facilities may lead to increases in incidences of violence and escapes. A nationwide study found that assaults on guards by inmates were 49 percent more frequent in private prisons than in government-run prisons. The same study revealed that assaults on fellow inmates were 65 percent more frequent in private prisons.
CCA is and formerly The GEO Group have been major contributors to the American Legislative Exchange Council
American Legislative Exchange Council
The American Legislative Exchange Council is a politically conservative 501 non-profit Policy Organization, consisting of both state legislators and members of the private sector. ALEC's mission statement describes the organization's purpose as the advancement of free-market principles, limited...
(ALEC), a Washington, D.C. based public policy organization that develops model legislation that advances tough-on-crime legislation and free-market principles such as privatization.
Under their Criminal Justice Task Force, ALEC has developed and helped to successfully implement in many states “tough on crime” initiatives including “Truth in Sentencing” and “Three Strikes” laws. Corporations provide most of the funding for ALEC’s operating budget and influence its political agenda through participation in policy task forces. ALEC’s corporate funders include CCA and The GEO Group. In 1999, CCA made the President’s List for contributions to ALEC’s States and National Policy Summit; Wackenhut (predecessor to GEO Group) also sponsored the conference. Past cochairs of the Criminal Justice Task Force have included Brad Wiggins, then Director of Business Development at CCA and now a Senior Director of Site Acquisition, and John Rees, a former CCA vice president. On November 11th, 2010, GEO's outgoing COO Wayne Calabrese, told a large community gathering at a middle school in Bangor, Pennsylvania, that GEO had withdrawn from ALEC years earlier because of the obvious conflict of interest involved in creating legislation that insured an increased supply of prisoners. CCA and GEO have both engaged in state initiatives to increase sentences for offenders and to create new crimes, however, CCA helping to finance Proposition 6 in California in 2008 and GEO lobbying for Jessica's Law in Kansas in 2006.
By funding and participating in ALEC’s Criminal Justice Task Forces, critics argue, private prison companies directly influence legislation for tougher, longer sentences. The legal system may also be manipulated more directly: in the Kids for cash scandal
Kids for cash scandal
The "Kids for cash" scandal unfolded in 2008 over judicial kickbacks at the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Two judges, President Judge Mark Ciavarella and Senior Judge Michael Conahan, were accused of accepting money from the co-owner and builder of two private,...
, Mid-Atlantic Youth Services Corp, a private prison company was found guilty of paying two judges $2.6m to send 2000 children to their prisons.
Legislation passed with links to private prisons, reported in the media: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130833741
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130891396
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2010/11/17/1724396/commentary-was-arizonas-immigration.html
http://www.kpho.com/news/24834877/detail.html
Attempts to limit privatization and increase oversight
Some U.S. states have imposed bans, population limits, and strict operational guidelines on private prisons:- Banning privatization of state and local facilities—IllinoisIllinoisIllinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
in 1990 (Private Correctional Facility Moratorium Act), and New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 2000, enacted laws that ban the privatization of prisons, correctional facilities and any services related to their operation. LouisianaLouisianaLouisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
enacted a moratorium on private prisons in 2001. - Banning speculative private prison construction—For-profit prison companies have built new prisons before they were awarded privatization contracts in order to lure state contract approval. In 2001, Wisconsin’s joint budget committee recommended language to ban all future speculative prison construction in the state. Such anticipatory building dates back to at least 1997, when Corrections Corporation of AmericaCorrections Corporation of AmericaCorrections Corporation of America is a company that owns and manages private prisons and detention centers and operates others on a concession basis. The company is the largest private corrections company in the United States and manages more than 60 facilities with a designed capacity of 90,000...
built a 2,000-bed facility in CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
at a cost of $80–100 million with no contract from the California Department of Corrections; a CCA official was quoted as saying, "If we build it, they will comeField of DreamsField of Dreams is a 1989 American fantasy-drama film directed by Phil Alden Robinson and is from the novel Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella...
". - Banning exportation and importation of prisoners—To ensure that the state retains control over the quality and security of correctional facilities, North DakotaNorth DakotaNorth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
passed a bill in 2001 that banned the export of Class A and AA felons outside the state. Similarly, OregonOregonOregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
allowed an existing exportation law to sunset in 2001, effectively banning the export of prisoners. Several states have considered banning the importation of prisoners to private facilities. - Requiring standards comparable to state prisons—New MexicoNew MexicoNew Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
enacted legislation that transfers supervision of private prisons to the state Secretary of Corrections, ensuring that private prisons meet the same standards as public facilities. In 2001, NebraskaNebraskaNebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
legislation that requires private prisons to meet public prison standards was overwhelmingly approved by the legislature, but pocket-vetoedPocket vetoA pocket veto is a legislative maneuver in United States federal lawmaking that allows the President to veto a bill indirectly.The U.S. Constitution limits the President's period for decision on whether to sign or veto any legislation to ten days while the United States Congress is in session...
by the governor. OklahomaOklahomaOklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
passed a law in 2005 that requires private prisons to have emergency plans in place and mandates state notification of any safety incidents.
Private prisons in Israel
In 2004, the IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
passed a law permitting the establishment of private prisons in Israel. The State's motivation was to save money by transferring prisoners to facilities managed by a private firm. The state would pay the franchisee $50 per day for each inmate, sparing itself the cost of building new prisons and expanding the staff of the Israel Prison Service
Israel Prison Service
The Israel Prison Service , commonly known in Israel by its acronym Shabas , is the prison service of Israel. It is responsible for maintaining civilian prisons in Israel, as well as detention centers for security prisoners. It is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Security...
. In 2005, the human rights department of the Academic College of Law in Ramat Gan filed a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court challenging the law. The petition relied on two arguments. First, it said, transferring prison powers to private hands would violate the prisoners' fundamental human rights to liberty and dignity. Secondly, a private organization always aims to maximize profit, and would therefore seek to cut costs by, for instance, skimping on prison facilities and paying its guards poorly, thus further undermining the prisoners' rights. As the case awaited decision, the first prison was built by the concessionaire, Lev Leviev
Lev Leviev
Lev Avnerovich Leviev is a Bukharian-Israeli billionaire businessman, with a net worth of roughly $1.5 billion following the 2008 global financial crisis. Leviev is one of the most prominent Mizrahi Jewish individuals in the world and has been a major philanthropist for Jewish causes in Eastern...
's Africa-Israel - a facility near Beersheba
Beersheba
Beersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 194,300....
planned to accommodate 2,000 prisoners.
In November 2009, an expanded panel of 9 judges of the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that privately run prisons are unconstitutional, finding that for the State to transfer authority for managing the prison to a private contractor whose aim is monetary profit would severely violate the prisoners' basic human rights to dignity and freedom. Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch
Dorit Beinisch
Dorit Beinisch is the president of the Supreme Court of Israel. She was appointed to the position on September 14, 2006, after the retirement of Aharon Barak. She is the first woman to serve as president of the Supreme Court.-Biography:...
, wrote that "Israel's basic legal principles hold that the right to use force in general, and the right to enforce criminal law by putting people behind bars in particular, is one of the most fundamental and one of the most invasive powers in the state's jurisdiction. Thus when the power to incarcerate is transferred to a private corporation whose purpose is making money, the act of depriving a person of his liberty loses much of its legitimacy. Because of this loss of legitimacy, the violation of the prisoner's right to liberty goes beyond the violation entailed in the incarceration itself."
External links
- Privatization Blog A Corporate Perspective of Prison Privatization
- The largely volunteer Private Corrections Institute, a comprehensive source of information on the industry
- Corrections Corporation of America web site
- Steel-Town Lockdown, Mother Jones
- Prison Privatisation Report International (online editions 2001 - 2006)
- Informative article focusing mainly on the privatisation of prisons in the UK from Lasthours.org.uk
- Texas Prison Bid'ness follows private prison developments in Texas.
- Private Prison Watch, a Texas based prison industry watchdog website.
- A Death in Texas: Profits, poverty, and immigration converge