NCJ Number
178776
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 16 Issue: 3 Dated: September 1999 Pages: 579-600
Date Published
1999
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This article reviews some of the arguments for and against prison privatization, including the question of whether privatization violates the moral and ideological underpinnings of corrections.
Abstract
The term prison privatization refers specifically to private companies owning and operating prisons for profit. The article presents a theoretical examination of the conflict that occurs when organizations must operate in both the institutional and the competitive market environment. That discussion provides the basis for examining how such a conflict requires organizations to respond in predictable ways in order to ensure their long-term survival. Private prison companies, acting aggressively to ensure their survival in the market, are likely to violate institutional legitimacy. This process may take some time to become clear but, unless it precipitates a major change in the institutional environment, it will set off a cycle that drastically increases costs to the companies and to the government. The ultimate result will likely be that government will end the conflict and rising costs by reasserting its control of correctional operations. Notes, references