Chapter Summary and Learning Objectives

For the most part, the way private prison companies run their businesses—keeping costs down, pursuing favorable contracts, influencing laws, policies and public opinion that most support them, maximizing profits—are not out of line with other for-profit enterprises. What sets them apart is their responsibility for a hugely important and difficult undertaking: ensuring the humane treatment of prisoners, carrying out the rule of law, and preserving safety in the facilities. They serve a crucial government function, yet they approach the task from a strikingly different perspective than the governments and the public they serve.

The presence of private prisons makes true reform of the system less likely. Private corrections companies use financial and political influence to support laws and

policies that have further entrenched the overuse of incarceration in this country. Government oversight of private prisons has been inadequate, but contracting can be used to counter the growth of this pervasive but arguably unnecessary part of the U.S. corrections system.

Although it is important not to oversimplify the many factors that contribute to crime and the corrections populations, even the strongest supporters of tough-on- crime policies would agree that the best-case scenario is fewer inmates in custody, as long as public safety is not diminished. The public supports efforts to reduce the use of incarceration when those efforts are shown to be practical and effective. This ultimately leaves only those with a financial interest in private prisons supporting filling more beds in secure facilities.

  • To understand the scope and size of private correctional facilities in the United States.
  • To grasp the kinds of functions fulfilled by private correctional companies.
  • To be able to name at least three private corrections companies, including the two largest.
  • To gain a sense of the relationship between private corrections companies and local economies.
  • To be able to describe how private corrections and public corrections policy may be in conflict.
  • To know how difficult it is to monitor private facilities and why.
  • To grasp the basics of the government contracting process.