Directions: Read the article, then make five comments/questions in
the margins of the article, then answer the questions at the end.
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For-Profit Prisons: A Barrier to Serious Criminal Justice Reform
Published: Wednesday, 12 Oct 2011 | 2:26 PM ET
By: David Shapiro | Staff Attorney, ACLU National Prison Project
The imprisonment of human beings at record levels is both a moral failure and an economic
one — especially at a time when state governments confront enormous fiscal crises caused
largely by bloated and unnecessary prison spending. But mass incarceration provides a
gigantic windfall for one special interest group: the private prison industry. As current
incarceration levels harm the nation as a whole, for-profit prisons obtain taxpayer dollars in
ever greater amounts. Private prison executives, meanwhile, bring in multi-million dollar
compensation packages.
Today, the United States incarcerates 2.3 million individuals — more people, both per capita
and in absolute terms, than any other nation in the world including Russia, China and Iran.
The current incarceration rate deprives record numbers of individuals of their liberty,
disproportionately affects people of color and has at best a minimal effect on public safety.
The crippling cost of imprisoning more and more Americans — non-violent offenders in the
majority of cases — saddles governments with escalating debt.
This social ill — mass incarceration — is the private prison industry’s bread and butter. Private
prison companies openly admit that their profits depend on locking up more people. For
example, in a 2010 annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the
largest private prison company stated: “The demand for our facilities and services could be
adversely affected by ... leniency in conviction or parole standards and sentencing practices
...”
As incarceration rates skyrocket, the private prison industry expands at exponential rates.
The number of inmates in private prisons increased by roughly 1600 percent between 1990
and 2009. In 2010, the two largest private prison companies alone took in nearly $3 billion in
revenue, and their top executives each received annual compensation packages worth well
over $3 million.
While the for-profit prison industry touts the idea that governments can save money through
privatization, private prisons often fail to deliver demonstrable fiscal benefits — and can even
cost taxpayers more than publicly operated institutions. Numerous studies by researchers,
state governments and federal agencies contradict the supposed economic benefits touted by
industry supporters.
As state governments across the nation confront deep fiscal deficits, the notion that private
prisons demonstrably reduce the costs of incarceration is more than untrue — it is dangerous
and irresponsible. Inflated assertions about cost savings threaten to lure states into
privatization, rather than reducing incarceration rates and limiting corrections spending
through serious criminal justice reform.
Empirical studies also show a heightened level of violence in some private prisons. With every
incentive to slash salaries so as to maximize corporate profits, private prison companies in
Directions: Read the article, then make five comments/questions in
the margins of the article, then answer the questions at the end.
INB
p. 10
some instances fill their facilities with inexperienced staff. After an infamous escape from an
Arizona private prison in 2010, for example, the Arizona Department of Corrections reported
that at the prison “[s]taff are fairly ‘green’ across all shifts,” “are not proficient with
weapons” and habitually ignore sounding alarms. Private facilities have also been linked to
atrocious conditions. In a private juvenile facility in Texas, for example, auditors reported,
“[c]ells were filthy, smelled of feces and urine.”
Now is the time for serious criminal justice reform, not privatization schemes. The private
prison industry feeds off the mass incarceration problem and cannot be part of the solution.
The only real way to cut prison spending is to cut the number of people we keep in prison.
Shapiro is a Staff Attorney at the ACLU’s National Prison Project.
Directions: Read the article, then make five comments/questions in the margins of the
article, then answer the questions at the end.
Reflection Questions (ALL answers must be AT LEAST 2-3 COMPLETE sentences!)
1. What surprised you the most about some of the facts in the article?
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2. Should prisons be run like a business to make money? Why or why not?
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3. At the end of the article, the author argues that “the only real way to cut prison
spending is to cut the number of people we keep in prison.” What do you think are at
least TWO ways we can begin to cut down on the number of people in prison?
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