Correctional Privatization: Defining the Issues and Searching for Answers (From Privatization and the Provision of Correctional Services: Context and Consequences, P 3-10, 1996, G. Larry Mays and Tara Gray, eds. - See NCJ-167497)

• NCJ Number: 167498
• Author(s): G L Mays
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 8 pages
• Sale Source: Anderson Publishing Co
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article, an introduction to the rest of the book, attempts to clearly define privatization issues and to frame appropriate policy questions in objective non-polemical options for policymakers and taxpayers alike.

Abstract

The major philosophical issue in the matter of privatization is whether or not free enterprise should be given the responsibility of running prisons. If so, the following questions are raised: To what extent should private services be used? Is there an ethical limit on correctional privatization? At the extreme, could the state contract with a private service provider to perform executions? While there are both profit and non-profit motivations behind correctional programs, realistically, the operation of secure prisons is sufficiently distasteful that only a fairly strong profit motive would lure many firms into corrections. In addition to philosophical and motivation issues, the article also discusses economic, scope of services, personnel, and legal issues surrounding privatization.