Privatization of Imprisonment: A Managerial Perspective (Private Prisons and the Public Interest, P 107-129, 1990, Douglas C McDonald, ed. -- See NCJ-127372)

• NCJ Number: 127377
• Author(s): M O'Hare; R Leone; M Zegans
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 23 pages
• Sale Source: Rutgers University Press
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This analysis of the privatization of corrections emphasizes that no information clearly indicates whether or not corrections should be privatized and that instead, privatization should be regarded as an incremental process and an inevitable part of corrections.

Abstract

Thus, privatization is not an "all-or-nothing" policy alternative. In addition, some part of corrections will necessarily be carried on in the private sector. Similarly, it would be impossible to achieve prison privatization completely, because the incapacitation, punishment, and rehabilitation of criminals is a governmental act even if the implementation of these actions are contracted to the private sector. Finally, privatization is mainly an issue of the match between the strategic purposes that society seeks to achieve through imprisonment and the currently available means to do so. Therefore, deliberations should start with a list of objectives, not with a presumption for or against privatization. Society can then ask where the boundary between the public and private sectors can best be positioned to achieve these ends.