NCJ Number
159503
Date Published
1995
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This chapter examines the trend toward and the potential consequences of crime control becoming a significant profit- making venture for private companies.
Abstract
The chapter first notes the number of advertisements for correctional products and services in the June 1991 issue of Corrections Today, the official publication of the American Correctional Association. There were 111 advertisements that encompassed services and products in the areas of prison- building, prison equipment, and the operation of prisons. It is clear there is big money linked to the expansion of the prison industry. There is also a push toward private prisons, which involves the private building and management of prisons. Under such a system, the communal character of punishments evaporates in the proposals for private prisons. Private policing has also become a thriving industry, as more segments of society are willing to pay additional money to increase their security and protection. Private prisons increase the capacity for incarceration; private police might lead to reduced use of imprisonment as private security systems develop their own means of resolving the cases they handle. Private police have the major defects of class bias and the potential for abuse in situations of severe political conflicts. Trends to expand the prison and security industries under the thrust of the profit motive require that more and more people be imprisoned and managed by security forces. African-American males are the apparent targets of this expanded crime-control market. This has been done largely by targeting the drug-use patterns of inner-city black males (the penalties for crack use, the drug of choice in the inner city, are greater than for other types of cocaine use). 4 figures and 3 notes