Models of Accountability for the Contract Management of Prisons (From Private Prisons and Police: Recent Australian Trends, P 63-90, 1994, Paul Moyle, ed. - See NCJ-160698)

• NCJ Number: 160700
• Author(s): R Harding
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 28 pages
• Sale Source: Pluto Press Austrialia Limited
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

The issue of accountability in the contract management of prisons is examined, with emphasis on the concept of capture, in which regulators come to be more concerned about serving the interests of the industry with which they are in regular contact than in the more remote and abstract public interest.

Abstract

Accountability is the crucial issue in the privatization of corrections. Accountability has two parts: contractor-focused elements and public interest elements. The models of accountability encountered so far in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia have been contractor-focused. Such an arrangement is conducive to the problem of capture. This problem is also likely with the public interest elements of accountability. None of the existing models of accountability completely avoids this problem. However, a new model would facilitate productive competition and interaction between the parts of the dual system, avoid capture, and achieve flexibility across the system. The suggested model provides a framework for improving the performance not only of the newly emerging private sector but also the traditional public sector in corrections. Figure, notes, and 34 references (Author abstract modified)