Privatization of Corrections Facilities: The Operation of Prisons by Prison Management Companies, Bibliography

• NCJ Number: 126455
• Author(s): T J Watts
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 18 pages
• Sale Source: Vance Bibliographies
• Publication Type: Bibliography
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Public Administration Series: Bibliography -- P 2849

Annotation

This bibliography includes works on both sides of the issues, for and against, the privatization of prisons.

Abstract

One solution to the problems of prison overcrowding and poor prison management is the use of private firms to construct and/or manage prisons. It is theorized that these management companies can bring their expertise to the prisons and make them work. However, the use of management companies raises a number of legal, economic, and moral questions. Private firms justify their involvement with the claim that they can do the job more cheaply than governments, but some authorities have questioned this claim. Privatization is also justified by the belief that private prisons can treat inmates in a more humane manner; some opponents do not believe their methods would work with more violent offenders. However one might feel about private prisons, they are a reality with which citizens and taxpayers must deal.