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Private prisons are making a comeback:
The Trump administration is rolling back an Obama-era plan to phase out the federal government's use of private prisons. Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent a memo Thursday to the Bureau of Prisons rescinding the Obama administration's Aug. 16 order advising the bureau not to renew any contracts with private prisons, according to a copy of the letter. Then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates had instructed officials to either not renew private prison contracts or substantially reduce the scope of such contracts to ultimately end the department's use of privately operated prisons altogether.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions's four-sentence memo rescinding Justice Department guidance to reduce the use of private prisons sent stock soaring for the two companies that dominate the industry, Geo Group and CoreCivic (formerly Corrections Corporation of America). That's not necessarily because the memo will lead to a ramp-up in Geo- or CoreCivic-run federal prisons. As of December 2015, about 12 percent of all inmates in federal prisons were housed in private facilities, representing only 22,660 inmates. That certainly won't decline under Sessions, but he didn't promise to increase it substantially. "I direct the [Bureau of Prisons] to return to its previous approach," Sessions wrote. Anyway, DoJ renewed a pair of contracts with CoreCivic despite the now-scuttled order, so it's unclear if the status quo ever stopped.
Also at CNN Money.
Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Monitoring of Contract Prisons (August 2016).
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Snotnose on Sunday February 26 2017, @02:13AM
Here in CA prison guards make something like 70k/yr starting. It only goes up from there. I suspect the private prison guards make minimum wage. So....
a) how many abuses occur in regular prisons as opposed to private prisons?
b) how much does it cost to keep a low level offender in a private prison as opposed to a regular prison?
c) how do the escape rates compare?
d) how about the recidivism rate?
I live in California, and I suspect the private prisons come out ahead on all 4 of these. I'd have to go to prison to be sure, but, well, I'm not that committed to that.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday February 26 2017, @04:06AM
I think you're asking the wrong question. Please see my post, just below your own.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Sunday February 26 2017, @06:53AM
At the Federal level the DoJ found that private prisons did worse on every measurement I can remember including officer safety.
Recidivism? Recidivism is their business model.
Running a prison is inherently labor-intensive. You can't automate something like recruiting a snitch or learning to see early signs of trouble.
There are two ways to save money on a labor-intensive task. One is to use fewer workers. One is to pay them less. Understaffing kills people. Underpaying leaves you with turnover so bad that the new people are training the new people. See the Mother Jones article about the private prison in Louisiana.
There is only one thing private prisons can do that government-run prisons can't. That's to bribe officials to win contracts. http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2017/02/08/epps-bribery-civil-lawsuit/97645586/ [clarionledger.com]