Justice Department says it will end use of private prisons (2 Viewers)

They make sense from a certain perspective of operational efficiency. Private enterprise is just better at doing many things than government - especially at scale. But there's a certain inappropriateness of a business where the the key metric is number of inmates. Call it immoral if you will (I will), but when a business has a profit-incentive measured by incarcerated human beings, it invites an atmosphere aimed at maximizing that number. Free enterprise necessarily moves toward profit - it is fundamental.

There in lies the big problem. If that metric was changed to number of inmates who reenter the system after serving time with a lower % triggering an incentive, then I'd say it was a positive step.

As it sits, probably the best we can do is let the cost of government running a prison dictate things as the incentive to rehabilitate vs house is there.
 
Eventually none, at lease if you're referring to mainline BOP prisons. The contracts will be allowed to expire without renewal. I'm not sure what the windout period is.

Of course, there could be a policy change in the interim that would change the course and provide for renewal.

Oh ok. I thought some are state and wasn't sure if they were apart of this.
 
This is a timely example of what happens when private enterprises run prisons:

Cigarettes have long been the king of currency at prisons, but there's a new commodity worth even more: ramen noodles.

A study by Michael Gibson-Light, a doctoral candidate in the University of Arizona School of Sociology, is pegging the shift on poor food quality and quantity.

"The chow is really bad. They give you little kid meals like that's enough calories for a grown man," one inmate lamented.

Gibson-Light spent 12 months researching at an unnamed state prison facility which housed more than 5,000 inmates. He spoke to 50 inmates and seven staff members.
In the early 2000s a major shift occurred as the prison switched to a different private firm to oversee the food service.

Inmates had been getting three hot meals a day "but, only a few years later, the second meal was reduced in size and changed to cold-cut sandwiches and a small bag of chips. Lunch was completely removed from weekend menus and portion sizes in every meal were reduced," his paper reads.

"One way or another, everything in prison is about money," another inmate said.

"A soup is everything ... many people will trade anything they own to get one," one of the inmates told Gibson-Light. "It's 'cause people are hungry. You can tell how good a man's doing by how many soups he's got in his locker. '20 soups? Oh, that guy's doing good!'"

Ramen, the new currency in prison, where food is so bad - CNN.com
 
I was just glancing at some numbers on the web about the private prison population and it seems low to me. for instance, this says that something like 7% of the prison population is housed in private prisons.
https://www.propublica.org/article/by-the-numbers-the-u.s.s-growing-for-profit-detention-industry

I wonder if some of this turns on the use of the word "prison."
Most people use "prison" as all-encompassing the meaning of confinement. But technically there is a difference between a jail and a prison. Jails house people before trial and house people sentenced to crimes that are under some minimum number of years - say 3 years.
So maybe groups are using "prison" in the more technically correct way. Reason I bring this up is because it seems to me that Tennessee probably houses at least a quarter of that 128,195 in privately run jails - so I doubt that is the true number of people confined to privately run prisons/jails in the US.

Plus - I also think there is more potential for abuse when dealing with lower level crimes where sentences are more likely to be served in jails. For example - the Cash for Kids scandal concerned offenses that were not very serious in nature at all. And the confinement was not a prison, although I am not sure if it was a "jail" within the meaning of a housing run by the Sheriff or some other local office.
 
Shareholder Class Action Filed Against Corrections Corporation of America - CXW

The complaint alleges that CCA and certain of its executive officers made a series of false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose to investors during the Class Period that: (i) CCA's facilities lacked adequate safety and security standards and were less efficient at offering correctional services than the Federal Bureau of Prisons' ("BOP") facilities; (ii) CCA's rehabilitative services for inmates were less effective than those provided by BOP; (iii) consequently, the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") was unlikely to renew and/or extend its contracts with CCA; and (iv) as a result of the foregoing, CCA's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
 

278950_original.jpg
 
Looks like a U-turn...

Justice Department rescinds order phasing out use of private prisons - LA Times

Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions has jettisoned an Obama administration order to phase out the use of private prisons to hold federal inmates.

The new order reverses one issued by former Deputy Atty. Gen. Sally Yates in August that sought to eliminate the department's use of private for-profit prisons, which hold just over 10% of the current prison population.

The Obama administration order "changed long-standing policy and practice, and impaired the bureau’s ability to meet the future needs of the federal correctional system," Sessions wrote Thursday to announce the reversal.
 
There is no comparison to the private prison industry and the NRA.

The NRA can get votes out. the political muscle it flexed in the 90s is not achievable today, but it still can turnout votes.

Private prison industry can basically just lobby. No comparison.

Also private prisons are not protected by the 2nd amendment


But potentially great news. Caging humans shouldnt be a big business.
 


Seriously, screw everything about this new administration.

I honestly cannot remember the last time there was a president who I disagreed with on every single thing their administration accomplished. I wasn't even a huge Obama fan but at the rate Trump's team is going, they're making Obama look like Jesus Christ incarnate in comparison.
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Users who are viewing this thread

    Back
    Top Bottom