Duty To Govern: A Critical Perspective on the Private Management of Prisons and Jails (Private Prisons and the Public Interest, P 155-178, 1990, Douglas C McDonald, ed. -- See NCJ-127372)

• NCJ Number: 127379
• Author(s): J J DiIulio Jr
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 24 pages
• Sale Source: Rutgers University Press
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This analysis of normative issues related to the private management of prisons and jails concludes that the main issue is the propriety, in a constitutional democracy, of delegating the authority to administer criminal justice to nonpublic individuals and groups.

Abstract

Empirical information does not exist to compare public and private corrections with respect to costs, the protection of inmates' civil rights, the reliance on particular management approaches, or any other significant factor. In addition, the available policy options include mixtures of public and private involvement in corrections. Nevertheless, even a cursory review of the historical, political, and administrative issues related to private prison and jail management raises major doubts about the prospects of privatization. The central moral issues relate mostly to the appropriateness of nonpublic administration of corrections and have little to do with the role of the profit motive of the private sector.