Hello Class,

Zapotosky (2016),” The Justice Department plans to not renew the privately-owned prison contracts after officials concluded these facilities are both less safe and less effective at providing correctional services than those run by the government. They simply do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs, and resources; they do not save substantially on costs; and as noted in a recent report, they do not maintain the same level of safety and security” (para. 1). Correction officers in a private prison are taking bribes or favors to smuggle weapons, drugs and contraband, cell phones, or to provide inmates with other benefits. Other kinds of prison corruption can involve higher-level prison officials. For example, many prison officials have been implicated in pay-to-play schemes with private prisons. Meaning prison supervisors and administrators have been accused of covering up violations by correction officers or others within the prison, such as by shielding human rights abuses. What’s the difference between federal and state governments using outside contractors versus the government borrowing money all the time? In my opinion, there is not enough data shared with the community that can verify the government can do a better job than the private sector. A friend of mine who was locked up in the county jail here in Houston, Texas stated the healthcare system was unjustified, it took months for staff to care for the inmate’s diabetes and a heart condition. The inmate stated he was taking a handful of prescribed pills that were not even his. Not only is there a decreased distrust in the healthcare system, but the food in the prison system may also cause more and can be pricey for families to purchase care food packages for inmates which can run fifty to a hundred dollars just for some chips and off-brand beef jerky. If inmate phone calls weren’t highway robbery enough, you can now pay a hundred dollars for an outside company to allow face-to-face Video Visitation. Honestly, there are no major differences between federal and state government verse private sectors they are both pocketing off inmates and their families.

Reference

Zapotosky, Matt (2016). Justice Department says it will end the use of private prisons. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/08/18/justice-department-says-it-will-end-use-of-private-prisons/