Prisons As Industry Essay Example for Free

Prisons As Industry EssayWhat is the most profitable diligence in America? Weapons, oil and electronic computer technology all offer high rates of return, but there is probably no sector of the economy as abloom with money as the mysteriously leech prison industry. Prison industry in recent years has become a high-profit business and it competes with industries such(prenominal) as the oil and shove off industry. The aim of this paper therefore is to examine the industry as a whole. In examining the industry therefore, there shall be a cursory analysis of both(prenominal) salient point vis--vis the prison industry. A very important fact is that the prison industry came about because of the congestion in the various regimen-owned prisons in passim the country. The demand for prisons seems to be ever increasing and the public prisons scattered all around the country are incapable of providing adequately for this. Nearly every prison in America is overcrowded and will cont inue to be so if new prisons do not spring up. So therefore, the aim of the prison industry is to organize provisions for more space to keep dissidents at a lower cost than federal prisons can. In other words, privately owned prisons are whimsical because demand for prisons is high, while supply of prisons is low. That is what makes this industry so appealing. Thus, privately owned prisons are good substitutes for federally run services. Therefore, this brings us to the issue of prison privatization. This involves the exchange of running state-owned prisons to private industries to manage. Thus, by using the private sector to build or manage prisons, many states believe that they can reduce costs.Privatization of prisons can call in various forms. This includesContracting out services This is the most common form of prison privatization. Currently, 39 states in the US hire private firms to provide such services as medical and mental health treatment, drug treatment, education, s taff training, and vocational training and counseling.Contracting out prison laborThis also is some other means of privatizing prisons. By putting prisoners to work and paying inmates competitive wages, many private companies are reducing prison costs for the government by withholding tax earnings for taxes, room and board, family support, and victims compensation. Such employment also gives prisoners the skills and work experience that will prepare them for the job market when they are released from prison.Construction and lease/ getMany states see private construction as a promising solution to the prison over crowding crisis. States normally finance construction by cash appropriations (a pay-as-you-go approach) or by issuing general obligation bondsThe points above are some of the appearances by which prisons by various states in the US. In another vein, privatization of prisons can also occur at the federal level. For instance, the Federal Government of the United States recen tly proposed contracting with a private firm for a new 500 bed minimum-secure facility for illegal aliens.In addition, the authorisation has considered contracting for facilities to house special needs prisoners, such as juveniles, women, protective detainment cases, and for prisoners needing medical services. However, the federal government is wary in contracting out the more mainstream prisoners such as those imprisoned in the Federal Correctional Institutions and the U.S. penitential System.Nevertheless, the prison industry has raises certain doubts. These questions must be answered before a deeper understanding and full grasp of the objectives of the industry can be achieved. The first question is that has the federal government abrogated its responsibility by privatizing prisons.In other words, Should the private sector be responsible for a function traditionally performed by the government sector? Evidence has shown that that prison privatization does not mean that the gov ernment relinquishes its responsibility. The government still would select the inmates to be placed in private prisons, choose the showcase of facility to be contracted out, oversee the contractors disciplinary practices and, most important, evaluate the contractors performance.Furthermore, another good question to be guideed is whether service quality and flexibility is keep or not? This is because some policy makers maintain that the quality of management in private prisons will tend to be high at first, because of arguing and the desire to win contracts. However, they question the private sectors ability to sustain high-quality standards. This is not true of the prison industry because contracting standards are likely to improve over time as more firms enter the market and competition increases. Periodic bidding creates incentives for firms to improve constantly the quality and cost-efficiency of their performance.These above questions, among others, are some of the questions to ask in order to have an enlightened grasp of the prison industry. Now, it is of necessity to look at the history of prison industry. Historically, prison community started to plough in the United States in the 70s. Statistically, one out of every hundred adults is now imprisoned.In order to curtail the unwanted rise in the number of inmates, large sentences are being imposed on to act as deterrent and other policies, which are known as the broken window. They have introduced the triad strike policy which means that if you are convicted of any 3 offences you will receive life which is a very good deterrent. The state of Virginia applies this always, and has managed to slow the addition of the population (Bratton 2002). In addition, the government has tried to seek alternative modes of punishing offenders instead of retaining them in the prison yards. Undauntedly however, the rate of offenders soars. This has gone a long way in boosting the prison industry. The industry is no w much bigger than ever before worth around 40 billion dollars a year. Due to the overcrowding in state prisons and federal prisons, which are on average 34% over designed capacity according to the BJS report, the prison industry has to rely on private prisons. Many states enjoy the companies taking on the task of building the prisons and covering the costs and just charging the state per inmate, as the state tends to be a dance orchestra more lenient to a convicted felon in order to save money.So therefore, prison industry continues to soar high. Investors are now having good clock because of their net profits from prison business. For example, the leading company in prison business, Corrections Corporation of America, has made a tremendous success in the business. The tax of this company rose by 81% in 1995 alone. Again, Investors in Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, another leading prison industry, have enjoyed an average return of 18 portion during the past five years and t he company is rated by Forbes as one of the top 200 small businesses in the country as of today.The list goes on an on. Ten years ago, there were just five privately run prisons in the country, housing a population of 2.000. Nearly, a score of private firms run more than 100 prisons with about 62,000 beds today. Thats still less than five percent of the total market, but the industry is expanding fast, with the number of private prison beds expected to grow to 360,000 during the next decade. This could be said to be the reason why a recent headline in USA Today which says that Everybodys Doin the Jailhouse StockIn view of this, the prison industry is now a lucrative business. In fact, almost 30 states in the US have 28 states have passed ordinance making it legal for private contractors to run correctional facilities and many more states are expected to follow suit. God knows maybe one day, the prison industry will take over as the most lucrative and cost-effective business.To summ arize it all, there are many reasons why America has incarcerated more of its population than any other country including China, which has a much greater population. The main reason is still the fact that the prison industry is being portrayed as a business and companies are making money from crime. Therefore, toughening of laws by both the federal and state governments does not help matter. Therefore, one can safely finish that prison industry has come to stay. What is to be done now is for the government to tighten laws on the establishment of privately owned correction centers across the States. This would go a long way in ensuring that the privately owned prisons function effectively as their public counterparts. REFERENCESTonry M., 2004. Prisons and Imprisonment, International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Pages 12062-1206.Walker, S., Spohn, C., Dolone, M., 2004. The show of Justice, Race Ethnicity, and Crime in America, 3rd Ed, Wadsworth Publishing.Scal ia, J., August 2001. Federal Drug Offenders, 1999 with trends 1984-99, Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, U.S. Department of justice.Samaha, j., 2001. Criminal justice, 5th ed. Wadsworth publishing.Renshaw, B., December 1982. Prisoners 1925-1981, Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, U.S. Department of justice.Harrison, P., November 2004. Prisoners 2003, Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, U.S. Department of justice.