Robert Anderson

English 1010
8 November 2015
Pure Prison Perspectives
Prisons in the criminal justice system have some of the largest impacts in our
lives. It is very important to know just how these prisons are affecting our nation,
our communities, and our families. Prisons provide three general services: They
protect the public, they rehabilitate the offender, and they punish the criminal.
Depending on how well they are run and maintained, prisons can be a means to
help heal some of the social ills that cause countless problems for families and
communities. On the other hand, if prisons are not properly managed, they can
cause repercussions across our nation that will take generations or more to fix.
For the most part, our prisons are ran and operated by the government.
However, it is not law that the government hast to be the keepers of our prisoners.
Private owned companies and corporations are able to run and operate prisons.
Over the past 30 years, sense the 1980s, the number of privately owned prisons
have been on a rise. Both government and private ownership of prisons has their
own pros and cons that affect both our communities and the inmates themselves.
How the inmates are treated is probably the largest source of todays largest
controversies when dealing with prisons. Everything from neglected healthcare of
the inmates, to accusations of slavery for abusing prison labor can be found in
many places in our nation. On the other hand, if proper policies are in place,
including rehabilitation programs, inmates can have very effective recoveries and
can return to their families and communities as helpful citizens. Sense our inmates
do not have the rights and privileges we have, it is up to all of us to make sure that

Robert Anderson
English 1010
8 November 2015
the people and organizations operating our prisons are held accountable for the
quality of service they provide.

The government has the largest responsibility when it comes to operating our
state and federal prison facilities. They hold jurisdiction for over 90% of the prisons
in our nation. In an article written by Andrei Shleifer, called State versus Private
Ownership, it sates some of the conditions of both government and private
ownership should be considered. When it comes down to it, the one aspect that you
need to look at when deciding which is more effective is to look at the quality of
product or service you are looking for in a provider (137). In this case, the service
we look for in a prison system is how well the inmates are treated, the cleanliness of
the building, the training of the correction officers, etc. Government owned prison
do best in the following areas; when budget cuts would reduce quality of service,
innovation is not important, and when competition or reputation is weak (140).
According to Shleifer, every other circumstance would put the government at a
disadvantage. The reasoning behind that is because the prisons work on a
scheduled budget. So they dont have the need to be innovative, keep a reputation
base for customers. On the other hand, private owned prisons have a completely
different set of circumstances theyre most effective at.
According to Shleifer, two of the strongest attributes of private firms and
companies are innovation, and cost containment (141). So it is essential for them to
find and keep reputation to attract potential customers and contracts (139).
However, prisons in the criminal justice system do not have an open or competitive

Robert Anderson
English 1010
8 November 2015
market. For the most part, private prisons rely on contracts from the government. If
a private company can operate the prison at 90% of the current budget, then they
can get a contract from the government with a budget of 95% of that budget. Then
the company gets a 5% profit for running the prison and cuts the government
spending by 5%. Its a rather simple concept, but some of the consequences that
come from a 10% decrease in operational spending can be quite devastating to
the quality of service. The explosion of private prisons have a unique upbringing
into this peculiar business.
The recent climb in private prisons is clearly explained by two authors, Tracy
F. H. Chang and Douglas E. Thompkins, in their article Corporations go to Prisons:
The Expansion of Corporate Power in the Correctional Industry. In this article,
Chang and Thompkins paint a clear picture of the circumstances that brought the
explosion of private prisons, how they run the prisons, and how outside corporations
dip into prisons for their own gain. To begin, the starting groundwork for this
expansion began in the mid 1980s with the war on crime and drugs. This brought
policies involving mandatory minimum sentencing, police practices, and judicial
processes. Sense then there have been new federal crimes and more laws that
punish criminals more and more. This, of course, brought a steady increase of
inmates into prisons and jails across the country. With all the prisons and jails being
built and filled, this helped to inspire entrepreneurs to act on a potential business
opportunity. They began to seek multi-million dollar contracts to work with the local
governments in building and running the prisons (48).

Robert Anderson
English 1010
8 November 2015
Private prisons seem to end up in one extreme or the other when it comes to
the qualities expected in prison facilities. They have the potential to be financially
efficient to help save the government money. That is one of the strongest
arguments when it comes to having privately owned prisons. They also have the
potential to exploit loop holes and abuse their powers that lead to many of the
current issues surrounding private ownership of prisons. Prisons for Profit:
Incarceration for Sale, written by Michael Brickner and Shakyra Diaz, is an article
written to express some of the more damaging effects of Private prisons sending
less money on prisons. Private prisons would attempt to save money by cutting
corners in maintenance and training to try to maximize their profits (15). Private
prisons would underpay and under equip their staff. This causes a much higher
turnover rate for their employees than the public prisons have. Another method
they use to gain profits is by incarcerating as many prisoners as they can to fill all
the beds they have. This combination of overcrowding inmates, and having less
experienced officers watching the prison puts everyone in unnecessary risk (15).
Some of the inmates that are most at risk from overcrowded prisons are
minorities, specifically Illegal immigrants. Alissa R. Ackerman and Rich Furman
wrote in their article, The Criminalization of Immigration and the privatization of
the immigration detention: Impacts for Justice, that these minorities have some of
the hardest times in the prisons their kept in. They are the most vulnerable to
sicknesses, mental illnesses, and substance abuses that come from their unique
and stressful situation (258). They often have the worst health care when
imprisoned as well. With most illegal immigrants traveling to our country in hopes
for a better future for themselves and their families, it can be a stressful event in

Robert Anderson
English 1010
8 November 2015
someones life when theyre torn away from their families and left without a way to
work towards their hope for the future (259). This issue of illegal immigrants is
caused mostly by people who blame some of the social ills on these very people.
They claim they take all the low-end labor jobs and smuggle drugs (252). Arresting
illegal immigrants isnt a new thing, but it has been on an increase. Private prisons
see it as a business strategy to support more immigration laws to fill their prisons
(252-253). This, however, is still just part of a greater accusation involving arresting
minorities.
Probably the most straight forward argument accusing the abuse of prisoners
is voiced by Jaron Browne in the article Rooted in Slaver: Prison Labor Exploitation.
Browne briefly explains the ending of slavery in the 1850s and claims that it never
really ended. He states that the plantations and other rich organizations made laws
exclusively for black people, putting them into prison. From there, the plantations
would simply pay the prison for the prisoners they held and still made a profit of
their labors, which didnt end until the 1930s, but they still had chain gangs that
would put the prisoners to labor for the government and not specifically the
companies. This continued until the 1950s (79-80). There are still some who argue
that this problem is beginning again.
This argument is carried on by Earl Smith and Angela J. Hattery in their article
Incarceration: A Tool for Racial Segregation and Labor Exploitation. Smith and
Hattery carry on with Brownes arguments of slaver in a little more detail. The main
difference in the article is that the corporations today try to gain money by saving
the government money, instead of exploiting prison labor exclusively. Sense there
are so many prisons, its a bit of a financial strain on the criminal justice system to

Robert Anderson
English 1010
8 November 2015
provide all the needs of the prisoners. Not including maintaining proper security and
training for the correction officers and keeping up on building maintenance. In an
attempt to alleviate some of the strain, prisons have the option to have the inmates
do basic maintenance on prison grounds, mostly cleaning. Companies can also
higher prisoners as employees at a very low pay per hour rate.
Smith and Hattery believe that the Prison Industrial Complex (PCI) and the
capitalist system work together to control a part of the economy by removing
unwanted labor competition through incarceration. PIC exploits the vulnerable
prison population by putting people who break the law in prison, sense they have
fewer rights than law abiding citizens. The PIC and many other Fortune 500
companies take advantage of the convict lease system. This use of prison labor cuts
costs for companies and increases profits, much like plantations and ship yards did
in the 200 years when the U.S. practiced slavery (88). Despite the labor exploits,
the impact that this prison labor has on the economy is a relatively small
percentage.
With all this talk of arresting unwanted labor population from the general
population, and exploiting prisoners for cheap labor, one group called The American
Economist sat down and did some searching. They are, simply put, a well-organized
research group. Fredrick W. Derrick, Charles E. Scott, and Thomas Hudson
participated in researching data for the article Prison Labor Effects on the Unskilled
Labor Market. In a nutshell, the authors of this article concluded that prison labor
has almost no effect on the economy. They even say that fluctuations in baby births
have more of an impact on the economy than even the best odds of prison laborers
(79). So it may still be worth it to have prisoners work to maintain their facilities.

Robert Anderson
English 1010
8 November 2015
But there is no real supporting argument for private corporations to abuse prison
labor in an attempt to make a profit for themselves. Bad things can happen when
you lose the proper perspective or goal when dealing with human lives.
When it comes right down to it, prisons are not a means for profit. Prisons are
a means to protect the public, rehabilitate the prisoner, and punish the criminal. We
seek justice when a crime is done against us, and we deserve proper justice when
we intentionally, or unintentionally, commit a crime. Prisoners are not meant to be
the puppets or means for a company desiring to do well in the stock market.
Spending the proper time and money to maintain and manage prisons will have the
best effect on our communities. Our prisons have more of an impact on our small
societies than it does on our government as a whole. Hurting prisons dont hurt our
government, they hurt our homes. Staying focused on the purpose of prisons will
help keep the public safe.

Robert Anderson
English 1010
8 November 2015

Works Cited
Ackerman, Alissa R. and Rich Furman. The Criminalization of Immigration and the
Privitization of the Immigration Detention: Implications for Justice.
Contemporary Justice Review 16.2 (2013): 251-263. Print.
Brickner, Michael and Shakyra Diaz. Prisons for Profit: Incarceration for Sale.
Human Rights 38.3 (2011): 13-16. Print.
Browne, Jaron. Rooted in Slavery: Prison Labor Exploitation. Race, Poverty & the
Environment 17.1 (2010): 78-80. Print.
Chang, Tracy F. H. and Douglas E. Thompkins. Corporations Go to Prison: The
Expansion of Corporate Power in the Correctional Industry. Labor Studies
Journal 27.1 (2002): 45-69. Print.
Derrick, Fredrick W., Charles E. Scott and Thomas Hutson. Prison Labor Effects on
the Unskilled Labor Market. The American Economist 48.2 (2004): 74-81.
Print.
Hallett, Michael and Amy Hanauer. Selective Celling: Inmate Population in Ohios
Private Prisons. Policy Matters Ohio (2001): 1-25. Web. 5 Nov. 2015.
Schleifer, Andrei. State versus Private Ownership. The Journal of Economic
Perspectives 12.4 (1998): 133-150. Print.
Smith, Earl and Angela J. Hattery. Incarceration: A Tool for Racial Segregation and
Labor Exploitation. Race, Gender & Class 15.1/2 (2008): 79-97. Print.