NCJ Number
141154
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 56 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1992) Pages: 59-65
Date Published
1992
Length
7 pages
Annotation
Prison wardens and superintendents of adult minimum, medium, maximum, community, and camp facilities at both the State and Federal levels were surveyed regarding their views of three types of privatization in corrections: (1) correctional industries, (2) management contracting, and (3) private financing alternatives.
Abstract
The mailed survey received a 71.3 percent response rate from the 980 wardens and superintendents surveyed. The research sought to determine acceptance for each of the three types of privatization in relation to (1) institutional pressures (prison overcrowding, pending litigation, and poor conditions of confinement); (2) personal experience (private sector involvement and years in corrections); and (3) personal ideology (political affiliation and philosophy of corrections). Findings revealed clear preferences and opinions regarding private sector involvement. Prison industry received the broadest base of acceptance. The most acceptable form of prison industry involves a prison-owned shop that sells its goods or services to the State. The responses regarding private management revealed more support for such management for minimum security inmates than for other inmates, with little support for private control of offenders classified as maximum security. Results also indicated that individuals with more years of work in the public sector reported less acceptance of privatization and that individuals with experience with the private sector were more likely to support its continued integration into the public domain. Tables and 31 references