Prisons As Industry Essay

What is the to the highest degree profitable diligence in the States? Weapons, oil and computer technology al nonp aril offer high localizes of consequence, just there is probably no firmament of the economy as abloom with bills as the mysteriously crop prison house house house house house manuf representuring. Prison industry in upstart years has become a high-profit craft and it competes with industries such(prenominal)(prenominal) as the oil and shove a capacious industry. The aim of this paper therefore is to stress the industry as a whole. In examining the industry therefore, there shall be a cursory analysis of nigh great point vis--vis the prison industry. A genuinely important fact is that the prison industry came ab come in because of the congestion in the dissimilar political relation- have prisons in through by the rustic. The drive for prisons seems to be ever increasing and the unexclusive prisons dispel all around the country be incapable o f providing adequately for this. Nearly every prison in America is overcrowded and exit continue to be so if freshly prisons do not spring up. So therefore, the aim of the prison industry is to arrive at provisions for to a greater extent space to find dissidents at a lower be than national prisons earth-closet. In other words, unavowedly owned prisons ar unique because demand for prisons is high, while supply of prisons is low. That is what makes this industry so appealing. Thus, privately owned prisons argon severe substitutes for federally test services. Therefore, this brings us to the subject area of prison privatization. This involves the transfer of running put up-owned prisons to private industries to manage. Thus, by using the private arena to build or manage prisons, umteen sound outs believe that they can reduce costs.Privatization of prisons can reserve various configurations. This includesContracting out services This is the most common form of priso n privatization. Currently, 39 states in the US hire private firms to provide such services as checkup and psychological health treatment, drug treatment, education, staff training, and vocational training and counseling.Contracting out prison laborThis in any case is another core of privatizing prisons. By putting pris integrityrs to work and give inmates competitive wages, many private companies are reducing prison costs for the administration by withholding earnings for taxes, path and board, family support, and victims compensation. Such function also gives prisoners the skills and work experience that impart prepare them for the job market when they are released from prison.Construction and lease/purchasing many a(prenominal) states see private construction as a promising solution to the prison over crowding crisis. States normally pay construction by cash appropriations (a pay-as-you-go approach) or by issuing general li cleverness bondsThe points above are some of the ship canal 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 national Government of the United States new-madely proposed promise with a private firm for a new 500 bed minimum-secure speediness for illegal aliens.In addition, the part has considered contracting for facilities to house special needs prisoners, such as juveniles, women, protective custody cases, and for prisoners needing medical services. However, the federal presidential term is wary in contracting out the more primary(prenominal)stream prisoners such as those imprisoned in the federal Correctional Institutions and the U.S. Penitentiary System.Nevertheless, the prison industry has raises certain call into questions. These questions must be answered in front a deeper understanding and full procure of the objectives of the industry can be achieved. The low question is that has the federal government abrogated i ts righteousness 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 government relinquishes its responsibility. The government let off would select the inmates to be placed in private prisons, choose the type of quickness to be contracted out, oversee the declarers disciplinary practices and, most important, estimate the contractors performance.Furthermore, another exhaustively question to be asked is whether service prime(prenominal) and flexibility is maintained or not? This is because some form _or_ system of government makers maintain that the flavour of management in private prisons will tend to be high at first, because of contestation 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 con tracting standards are in all likelihood to improve over time as more firms enter the market and competition increases. Periodic bidding creates incentives for firms to improve forever and a day the quality and cost-efficiency of their performance.These above questions, among others, are some of the questions to ask in order to remove an enlightened grasp of the prison industry. Now, it is of compulsion to look at the history of prison industry. Historically, prison tribe started to turn out in the United States in the 70s. Statistically, one out of every hundred adults is straightaway imprisoned.In order to curtail the unwanted overturn in the snatch of inmates, larger sentences are being imposed on to act as deterrent and other policies, which are k straight offn as the broken window. They take for introduced the three 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 al representations, and has managed to slow up the growth of the population (Bratton 2002). In addition, the government has tried to seek alternative modes of large(p) offenders instead of retaining them in the prison yards. Undauntedly however, the rate of offenders lifts. This has gone a long way in boosting the prison industry. The industry is now much bigger than ever forwards worth around 40 one million million million dollars a year. Due to the overcrowding in state prisons and federal prisons, which are on bonnie 34% over designed cogency according to the BJS report, the prison industry has to imprecate on private prisons. Many states lie with the companies taking on the task of create the prisons and covering the costs and just charging the state per inmate, as the state tends to be a lot more lenient to a convicted felon in order to but money.So therefore, prison industry continues to soar high. Investors are now having good measure because of their net pr ofits from prison business. For example, the spark advance order in prison business, department of subjects Corporation of America, has made a terrific success in the business. The revenue of this company rose by 81% in 1995 alone. Again, Investors in Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, another jumper lead prison industry, have enjoyed an average return of 18 percent during the past quintuplet years and the company is rated by Forbes as one of the top 200 low-down businesses in the country as of today.The rock 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 judge to grow to 360,000 during the next decade. This could be said to be the reason why a recent headline in USA nowadays which sa ys that Everybodys Doin the Jailhouse StockIn view of this, the prison industry is now a profitable business. In fact, nigh 30 states in the US have 28 states have passed legislation make 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 summarize 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 reservation money from crime. Therefore, toughening of laws by both the federal and state governments does not help matter. Therefore, one can safely conclude that prison industry has come to stay. What is to be do 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 behavioural Sciences, Pages 12062-1206.Walker, S., Spohn, C., Dolone, M., 2004. The Color of Justice, Race Ethnicity, and Crime in America, 3rd Ed, Wadsworth Publishing.Scalia, J., August 2001. Federal medicate Offenders, 1999 with trends 1984-99, berth of Justice Statistics Special Report, U.S. subdivision 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.