There has been an ever increasing level of debate in regards to whether private prisons are better than public prisons. Those taking part in the debate, have in the past, compared both types of prisons by analyzing a variety of aspects such as their varying abilities to offer adequate program delivery, safety and other long term favorable aspects such as the reduction in the rate recidivism. In a bid to establish whether private prisons are better than public prisons, numerous research has been carried out. The aim of this paper is to evaluate whether the private prisons are better than prisons run by the state.
In my view, after a careful analysis of the findings and conclusions made after previous researches, I have made several observations. The first observation that I have made is the fact that private prisons are more likely to have a more efficient and effective program delivery as compared to prisons that are run by the state. This is because private contractors are in a better position to raise funds that will be used to run the their prisons. Private contractors use various avenues to raise adequate revenue to run an efficient and effective rehabilitation program. However, prisons that are run by the state are in most cases depend on state funding which is in most cases insufficient to enable them to run an effective rehabilitation program.
My second observation is the fact that private prisons appear to be safer than prisons that are run by the state. However, this notion might not be true because most private prisons are minimum security prisons that host petty offenders as compared to state prisons that host serious crime offenders. Therefore, it is logical for more safety challenges to occur in state prisons to occur as compared to private prisons.
However, I have also noted that the results of previous research conducted on prisons tends to indicate that private prisons have been more effective in reducing cases of recidivism as compared to public prisons. In my view, this notion is true since most private prisons put more emphasis on ensuring that they reform their prisoners as compared to prisons run by the state. This is because the state run prisons face financial and other challenges that make it difficult for them to run effective rehabilitation programs for prisoners with the aim of reducing cases of recidivism.
Conclusion:
In summary, after analyzing the different abilities of private and state run prisons to conduct an efficient and effective rehabilitation program, I believe that the privatization of prisons should be encouraged. This is because private prisons are in a better position of being more successful in running prisons as compared to the state.
Works Cited:
Bales, William D., E. Laura Bedard and T. Susan Quinn. "Recidivism of Public and Private State Prison Inmates in Florida." Bayes, ET AL. Private Prisons and Recidivism. Florida: Florida State University, 2005. 57-82.
Camp, D Scott. "Editorial Introduction." Camp, Scott D. Private Prisons and Recividism. Florida: Florida State University, 2005. 55-56.
Feeley, Malcolm M. "Entrepreneurship of Punishment: The Legacy of Privitization." Punishment & Society 1 July 2002: 1-25.
Hooks, Gregory, et al. "Revisiting the Impact of Prison Building on Job Growth: Education, Incarceration and county level employment." Social Science Quartely 1 March 2010: 1-18.
Perrone, Dinna and Travis C. Pratt. "Comparing the Quality of Confinement and Cost Effectiveness of Public Versus Private Prisons: What We know, Why We Do Not Know More and Where to Go to From Here." The Prison Journal 1 Sep 2003: 1-23.
Thomas, Charles W. "Recividism of Public and Private State Prisons in Florida: Issues and Unanswered Questions." Thomas, Charles W. Private Prisons and Recividism. Florida: Florida State University, 2005. 89-100.
Wood, Peter B. and Gregory R. Dunaway. Consequences of Truth in Sentencing. London: Sage, 2003.
