1. “A reduction in the overall federal prison population that began in 2014 resulted from changes in sentencing policy and influenced a modest decline in private prison use in 2016.” This occurred because of the decline in the prison population. The report than concluded that private prisons were more safer and had less security incidents than the Bureau of Prisons. 2. “In 2002, approximately 4,800 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees were held in privately run facilities.13 By 2017, that number had jumped to 26,249 people.14 This expansion of detention was influenced by a shift in immigration policy enforcement.” This surprises me. This is a huge number jump and we can clearly see how much law enforcement has cracked down on the immigrant policy. 3. “Congress established a quota for immigrant detention beds under appropriations law, requiring that the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) funding be linked to maintaining 33,400 immigration detention beds a day even if there were not a sufficient number of people in detention to fill them.” This number was blown out of proportion. We quickly knew that this number was not clearly enough and we started having issues because we did not provide enough space. 4. “The Attorney General argued that the state’s minimum wage was $11 an hour, and that the detainees were being held under “civil charges, not criminal charges,” meaning that that minimum wage must be upheld.” This also surprises me. Many inmates are paid very very less. Now yes, these immigrants only have civil charges but they still owe our country money and therefore, probably should not be making more money then some of the minimum wage jobs here in the United States. 5. “In September 2017 ICE requested that a new immigrant detention center be constructed in South Texas, stating that it would need to hold approximately 1,000 more migrant.” This would be very beneficial for us as a nation and helpful for immigrants coming from Mexico or even more south. 6. “Studies have found that assaults in private prisons can occur at double the rate found in public facilities.” Why does this occur? How can they prevent all the assaults? More workers? Safer security? What are they doing differently? 7. “In contrast to public prisons, private prisons frequently contract with state governments to confine people out-of-state, with 10,500 people housed this way as of 2013.” What is the purpose of this? It is then hard for inmates family to come and visit them. And majority of them don’t have the money to travel so therefore, they won’t make the trip. Do they do this so the inmates won’t see their families? Wouldn’t this cause more problems? 8. “New Mexico leads the nation in its dependence on private prisons.” Why do you think this is? Because New Mexico is so close to being near the south? OR because they have more room for private prisons? 9. Now that crime in general has decreased. What will happen to the prisons if they are not occupied? Will they sit there or will the be turned into some sort of different facility? 10. Staff wise and Law Enforcement. Who gets paid more? People that work at private prisons or people who work at normal prisons? ProbdrinkingStar$’s711
I found many interesting things in the article that we had to read. On the article in the” Private Prison Companies Expanded Programing” section, I found that they are investing $270 million in the acquisition for halfway houses which are often used as a transition point between prison and release. I believe that is a good program because it helps people get on their feet. When releasing them with nothing and not helping them out just a little, it will be a chance that the person that was released will be right back in prison. But, with the program it will help them get a little feel for the real world and help them adjust to doing the right things out there. It also helps them get a job and find some where else to stay before being released from the halfway house. It Also, stated that Alabama Therapeutic Education Facility wants to enroll about 600 people to provide training, drug treatment, and resources for reentry. Which is a good idea because again it helps those who really wants to get out of prison and make a change in their lives. It also, will help the prison out because they will not have to invest more money into that person. In the Section “End the Practice of incarcerating people far from home” it mentions that States such as Vermont has no private prisons. They ship people out the state to avoid the cost of building state-run prison facilities. With this happening it creates a negative affect on those people families because they wont people able to see them much or at all. That is going to mess up people relationships with each other because they can’t visit or talk to them or even check up on them. And we all know that the prisoners must have money on there books to even get a phone call or I believe mail things out. I found that one in 12 people (128,063) was incarcerated in private prisons in 2016; an increase of 27% since 2000. I feel that they are only doing this because they don’t either have the money to have these people prisoned in their state or they are just sending people to prison for things they don’t need to be in prison for. That’s the problem now, we send people to prison for little things that can be handled different and not they have to invest in money to take care of these people that are in prison. Such as drug charges, I feel like those things can be handled different, but we can’t control the law. -BABYBLUE711
1. “The United States has the world’s largest private prison population. Of the 1.5 million people in state and federal prisons in 2016, 8.5 percent, or 128,063, were incarcerated in private prisons. Another 26,249 people -73 percent of all people in immigration detention- were confined in privately-run facilities on a daily basis during fiscal year 2017.” 2. “At the state level 27 states utilized private prison beds, with contracts ranging from a low of 12 in South Carolina to a high of 13,692 in Texas. Six states have more than doubled the number of individuals in private prisons since 2000. Arizona had the largest increase, holding 479 percent more people in private prisons in 2016 than in 2000, followed by Indiana (296 percent), Ohio (226 percent), Florida (211 percent), Georgia (113 percent), and Tennessee (112 percent).” 3. “In one GEO Group facility in Colorado, thousands of immigrant detainees were allegedly forced to work for $1 a day. Nine of those detainees filed a lawsuit against GEO Group claiming that they were paid for labor with “chicken, potato chips, soda, or candy.”17 In Washington State in 2017, the state’s Attorney General sued GEO Group for allegations that immigrant detainees were mandated to work for $1 a day. The Attorney General argued that the state’s minimum wage was $11 an hour, and that the detainees were being held under “civil charges, not criminal charges,” meaning that that minimum wage must be upheld.” 4. “In Ohio, state officials have contended that private facilities regularly meet or surpass the legal requirement of containing costs at least five percent below a state-run equivalent.” 5. “In Arizona, which also has cost-saving requirements for private prisons, research conducted by the state’s Department of Corrections in 2010 found that the state had not saved money by contracting out minimum security beds, and that more money is actually spent on private medium security beds than would be spent in a publicly operated institution.” 6. “Corrections officers employed by private corporations earn up to $23,850 less on average in annual salary compared to the public sector.” 7. “In Montana, lawmakers are fiercely debating the merits of accepting a cash payment of $35.7 million from Core Civic for renewal of the state’s prison contract which ends in 2019. The money had originally been set aside to allow the state to purchase the private facility. The state is facing a major budget shortfall and many in the legislature are urging the governor to accept the offer. Negotiations have stalled because of complaints of comparatively low pay for corrections officers compared to the state’s publicly-run prisons, and restrictions on staff unionizing.” 8. “The United States has experienced 40 years of unprecedented growth in its prison population but a recent stabilization and modest reduction in incarceration has largely ended the prison building boom and now provides an opportunity to reexamine policies of prison privatization.” 9. “In contrast to public prisons, private prisons frequently contract with state governments to confine people out-of-state, with 10,500 people housed this way as of 2013.40 States such as Vermont—which has no private prisons—shipped people out of state to avoid the cost of building state-run prison facilities.” 10. “The Department of Homeland Security’s bed quota for immigrant detention requires the agency to maintain no less than 34,000 beds at any given time. Because of this quota, Immigration and Customs Enforcement expanded its contracts with private prison companies to house federal immigrant detainees. It provides an incentive to maintain private prison contracts and keep immigration detention beds full.” -BoyMom711
1. “From 2000 to 2016 the number of people housed in private prisons increased ve times faster than the total prison population. Over a similar timeframe, the proportion of people detained in private immigration facilities increased by 442 percent.” 2.“ In one GEO Group facility in Colorado, thousands of immigrant detainees were allegedly forced to work for $1 a day. Nine of those detainees led a lawsuit against GEO Group claiming that they were paid for labor with “chicken, potato chips, soda, or candy.”17 In Washington State in 2017, the state’s Attorney General sued GEO Group for allegations that immigrant detainees were mandated to work for $1 a day. The Attorney General argued that the state’s minimum wage was $11 an hour, and that the detainees were being held under “civil charges, not criminal charges,” meaning that that minimum wage must be upheld.” 3. “Corrections officers employed by private corporations earn up to $23,850 less on average in annual salary compared to the public sector.26 Oliver Hart, the 2016 winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, contends that for-profit prison contracts lack sufficient incentives for proper job training. Consequently, there are higher employee turnover rates in private prisons than in publicly operated facilities.” 4.“According to ICE reports, arrests and detentions of immigrants have increased more than 40 percent since mid-2017. To accommodate the increases, President Trump’s 2018 proposed budget to Congress asked for $1.2 billion to add 15,000 more private prison beds for immigration detention.20 In September 2017 ICE requested that a new immigrant detention center be constructed in South Texas, stating that it would need to hold approximately 1,000 more migrants.21 This facility will be operated by GEO Group, and is expected to open in late 2018. GEO Group and Core Civic will reportedly be pursuing additional contracts to meet the detention demands of President Trump’s immigration policies.” 5. “The United States has the world’s largest private prison population. Of the 1.5 million people in state and federal prisons in 2016, 8.5 percent, or 128,063, were incarcerated in private prisons.1 Another 26,249 people -73 percent of all people in immigration detention- were con ned in privately-run facilities on a daily basis during scale year 2017.” 6, “The federal government is the single largest user of private prisons in the United States but has reduced its population in private prisons in recent years. However, in 2017 Attorney General Jeff Sessions withdrew an Obama-era directive to phase out private prison contracting because of concern for the federal correctional system’s ability “to meet future needs.” 7. “New Mexico had the highest proportion of its population held privately in both 2000 and 2016, with respective rates of 40 and 43 percent, followed closely by Montana with a rate of 39 percent in 2016. Four additional states incarcerated 20% or more of their prison population privately.” 8. “In 2002, approximately 4,800 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees were held in privately run facilities.13 By 2017, that number had jumped to 26,249 people.14 This expansion of detention was in uenced by a shift in immigration policy enforcement.” 9. “The Department of Homeland Security’s bed quota for immigrant detention requires the agency to maintain no less than 34,000 beds at any given time. Because of this quota, Immigration and Customs Enforcement expanded its contracts with private prison companies to house federal immigrant detainees. It provides an incentive to maintain private prison contracts and keep immigration detention beds full.” 10. “These dynamics may contribute to safety problems within prisons. Studies have found that assaults in private prisons can occur at double the rate found in public facilities. Researchers also nd that public facilities tend to be safer than their private counterparts and that “privately operated prisons appear to have systemic problems in maintaining secure facilities.” -mmmChicken711
1) Between 2000 and 2016, the number of people incarcerated in private prison facilities increased 47 percent while the overall prison population increased 9 percent. In 2012, the private prison population peaked at 137,220. Then declined in 2015, 126272, before rising back up again in 2016 to 128,063.
2) In 2002, approximately 4,800 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees were held in privately run facilities. In 2017, the number increased 26,249 people. The increase was caused by the shift in immigration policy enforcement. 3) Prison privatization has prospered because of claims that for-profit facilities are more cost efficient at providing services than publicly-run institutions. The U.S. General Accounting Office (or GAO) looked at four state funded studies and commissioned by the federal government. They looked at the cost benefits of private prisons, and found varied answers. This lead to the authors to conclude quote “… these studies do not offer substantial evidence that saving have occurred. When they did the study again in 2009, the GAO found the same conclusions. 4) Six states have more than doubled the number of individuals in private prisons since 2000. Arizona had the largest increase, with 479% more people in private prisons in 2016 than those in 2000. Indiana followed with 296%, Ohio at 226% and Florida at 211%. 5) The number of federal prisoners held in private prisons rose 120 percent from 15,524 in 2000 to 34,159 in 2016, while the number of state prisoners incarcerated privately grew by 31 percent over the same time period, from 71,845 to 94,164. Among those who were confined under private contracts, about 37% were in half way houses or home confinement. 6) Corrections officers employed by private corporations earn up to $23,850 less on average in annual salary compared to the public sector. Oliver Hart, who won the Nobel Prize in economics, found that for-profit prisons contracts lack enough motivation to train proper job training. Thus, there are higher employee turnover rates in private prisons than in public facilities. 7) Researchers, find that public facilities tend to be safer than their private counterparts and that “privately operated prisons appear to have systemic problems in maintaining secure facilities.” Some studies have found that assault in private prisons can occur double the rate than in public facilities. 8) The United States has the world’s largest private prison population. In 2016, 1.5 million people in state and federal prisons, 8.5% were incarcerated in private prisons. In 2017, another 73% of all people in the immigration detentions were confined in private run facilities. 9) The federal government and 27 states utilized private prisons operated by for-profit and non-profit entities during 2016. New Mexico and Montana led in private prisons. With New Mexico with 43% and Montana with 39%, of their private prisons housed within them. Between 2000 and 2016, Alabama, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Vermont began to contract with private prisons.
10) A reduction in the overall federal prison population that began in 2014 resulted from changes in sentencing policy and influenced a modest decline in private prison use in 2016. The declines in the prison population helped persuade, then, President Obama’s Department of Justice to phase out private prison contracts. –Adventureflight711
Page 5 Overview: “The federal government is the single largest user of private prisons in the United States but has reduced its population in private prisons in the recent years. However, in 2017 Attorney General Jeff Sessions withdrew an Obama-era directive to phase out private prison contracting because of concern for the federal correctional system’s ability ‘to meet future needs.’ Page 9 (time frame 2000 to 2016) “Among those confined, about 37 percent are in halfway houses or are on home confinement.” Page 9: “In 2002, approximately 4,800 Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees were held in privately run facilities. By 2017, that number had jumped to 26,259 people. This expansion of detention was influenced by a shift in immigration policy enforcement.” Page 9: To accommodate the increases, President Trump’s 2018 proposed budget to Congress asked for 1.2 billion to add 15,000 more private prison beds for immigration detention. Page 11: Studies have found that assaults in private prisons can occur at double the rate found in public facilities. Researchers also find that public facilities tend to be safer than their private counterparts and that ‘privately operated prisons appear to have systemic problems in maintaining secure facilities.’” A private prison can refuse to share disclosed information about its practices because the federal Freedom of Information Act does not apply to private prisons. (reword of statement from bottom right of page 14) States ship prisoners to private prisons to save money. In other words, they send people to private prisons so that they do not 1: have to house another inmate (cause one does cost a lot) and 2: they do not have to worry about building their own in-state prison OR build another prison. (summary from section “End the practice of incarcerating people far from home) page 15. Page 16: “95% of Florida’s juvenile facilities are privately owned. A recurring topic that came up in the article several times was how many states or rather almost every individual believed that a private owned for-profit facilities save money. For example, North Carolina closed theirs early and terminated a contract because they realized how much of a failure it is. For-profit prisons contracts lack enough motivation to proper job training. -tanlion_nala711
Mandatory minimum sentencing has contributed a lot to the mass incarceration problems we have had in the United States. These sentencings have been a key contribution because of people being sentenced to years behind bars for petty drug offenses. From 2000 to 2016 prison population grew five times that of what it was before. These numbers are astronomical. Immigration facilities alone have increased 442 percent, but most of this growth comes from private for profit institutions. But something that shocked me was that Illinois has no private prisons even though Illinois is in the top fifty percent for incarceration rates. Seeing that illinois has no private prisons brings a little bit of light to my home state. The biggest concerns for private prison are quality and safety as repeated multiple times throughout the article. Private prisons are for profit so they seek to find the cheapest ways to “take care” of their inmates, this raises concerns because they could be cutting cost in very important areas like food. Also since private prisons profit off of their inmates how and why would they help to decrease our prison population when our prison population is filling their pockets more and more. It has been shown that private prison do not save our government any money so what is the true purpose of them? They find the cheapest way to house inmates but dont drop the price for the states and feds. The article gives some advice to how our federal and local governments can get rid of their use of private prisons. One is eliminating contracts with private prison, we have seen that it is very possible to do so because we have seen it done in north carolina and some states alike. The article also hits on ending incarceration far from home because of the needs of prisoners. When incarcerating someone far from home it plays a toll on their mental health because families cant visit often or sometimes at all. - RickyBobby711
In this article it states that private prisons have increased 47% and states that the overall incarceration rate has increased by 9%. Private prisons population was mainly dominated by New Mexico in 2000 and 2016, with 40% and 43%. From 2000 to 2016, six states have doubled the amount of private prisons in this timespan. Since 2000 to 2016 federal prisoners held in private prisons increased a grand of 120% "15,524 in 2000 to 34,159 in 2016", But most federal prisoners that are held in private contracts, roughly 37%, "are in halfway houses or are on home confinement". President Obama Department of Justice phased out federal private for profit contracts because of the overall decrease in federal prisons, the decrease came because of the sentencing policy had changed. In May of 2017 the Department of Justice increased their bed counts by 1,600 that is intended for drug and immigration offenses, lower offenses. In 2009, Congress made a quota for the beds under appropriations law and by 2013 the amount of beds had raised to 34,000. Most of these immigration prisoners were fleeing places such as, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, but in these immigration centers there were many reports of assault, hunger protests, and medical neglect. In one GEO group in Colorado did a study and lots of these immigration prisoners claimed that they were forced to work for a dollar a day, in the article it states that the prisoners filed a lawsuit against this GEO and they won the lawsuit which changed the minimum wage to eleven dollars a hour because they are under "civil charges, not criminal, meaning that the minimum wage must be upheld", I feel like what this GEO group did is unacceptable because nobody should or could live off of one dollar a day. GAO looked into how to save funds when it comes to private prisons but they found that private prisons doesn't show a pro nor a con to a public prison but they did find that saving funds are not guaranteed from private prisoners but not impossible. In prisons the most amount where our funds go to is about 60% to 70% of funds to the safety and security inside our prisons. They have made "for-profit" prisons which their intentions are just to raise money but the size and status of that persons prison generally holds a lower standpoint then to other prisons. This whole article about private prisons and saving funds is interesting but it does show good points about how the private prisons are a good money saving idea for now but in the future we should find a way to save funds better but I know prisons are hard to maintain -z33 711
This article has tons of convicting information within each line. I feel that the general public should be more aware of research like this and how it affects them and the community around them. This article has the power to change how we view prison and private prisons. It was challenging to wade through all the data that this article had to offer, however, there are 10 things I would like to discuss. The first is, Private prison population has increased 47 percent within 16 years. This is mostly due to the federal government wanting to save money. It is far cheaper for a person to be held in a private than a publicly owned prison. 2) Private prison officers earn up to $23,850 less on average in annual salary than those who work at a state-owned prison. $23,850, that is crazy how much money the prison is withholding from their employee’s. To put into prospective, that amount of money is about what it takes to buy a new car. Crazy. 3) By having the mentality of trying to save money, the private prison could compromise the safety; and that is something that should not be neglected. There are better ways to save money than possibly compromise the safety of the community. 4) One in twelve people who are incarcerated are placed into a privately-owned prison. Not even half of the incarcerated are held in private prisons. I think that is a fairly small amount compared to what it could be. 5) Within six years Texas prisons increased by 113 percent. That number should scare us, should scare a lot. We as a country can not keep this up, that rate is far too high to maintain. 6) Florida’s private prisons has tripled within six years. What is happening to our criminal justice system for that kind of increase in private prisons? Something is definitely to blame for such a drastic expansion. It’s getting out of control. 7) 95 percent of Florida’s juveniles’ facilities are privately owned. That is a huge number, 95 percent, so pretty much all of Florida’s juveniles are held within a private facility. That data should be concerning. I was surprised on how many juveniles’ facilities are privately owned. I didn’t realize that. 8) President Trump allotting 1.2 billion dollars to add 15,000 more private prison beds. I found this to interesting. My thought on this, does it really take 1.2 billion dollars to buy just 15,000 beds? 9)Then my second thought is, if the president allotted that much money to be used for that many beds, he must be aware of the drastic increase of prison population. Buying more beds is just temporary fix to the problem. The whole sentencing process should have a different approach. Finally, 10) Immigration and customs enforcement was at 4,800 in 2002 and now in 2017 that number is at 26,249. As a country we are experiencing a large increase in immigrates within 15 years. I didn’t know the number of immigrates in custody was so extreme. -CoalRoller117
It surprised me when I saw some of the percentages of incarceration in private prisons. Arizona increased by 479.4 and that seems like a big increase. Ever since 2005, $2.2 billion dollars has been spent to get smaller companies in order to branch out to new industries beyond incarceration. Core Civic has invested $270 million for halfway houses. This is used for the change between prison and release. The GEO Group bought the Alabama Therapeutic Education Facility in 2017 and they set up a contract for $18.8 million dollars and they want to sign up 600 people and help them with training, drug treatment, and resource for reentry. The Department of Homeland Security has a bed quota for immigrant detention and they cant have less than 34,000 beds at any time. Florida was the second state after Texas to bein using private prisons and that was in the early 1990s. Florida now has eight prisons facilities that are ran privately. In Florida, 95% of the juvenile facilities are now privately owned. New Mexico opened two private prisons at the beginning in 1998 and that was within two years and both of the prisons have violent incidents within the first year of them being. 12 prisoners were stabbed in the correctional facility and that happened in 1999 during January. There was 4 prisoners killed and a correctional officer was killed and that happened in 2000. In the correctional facility in New Mexico, people feared for their safety and when they wanted to be reassigned, they got denied. North Carolina is one of the handful of states to shut down its for-profit prisons. They do have a few dozen individuals that are housed in a non-profit facility. The facility houses women who are trying to finish their prison sentences. Besides the institution, the state relies on state-run prison facilities. In Texas, there was an overcrowding in the 1980s. Admissions were rising and it was increased by 113 percent and that was from 1980 to 1986. The outpaced system capacity was raised by 52 percent. There was tougher penalties and the prison population continued to grow in the 1990s. The lawmakers in Texas realized that TDCJ had overbuilt the prison capacity. That occurred in 2008. The incarceration and crime rates started decreasing and at least half of the beds were empty in 2011 and multiple prisons were closed and some were private facilities. There were 13,692 people in private prisons by 2016. -Soccer31711
From 2000 to 2016 there was a 120% change in federal private prisons, and 442% change in private immigration detention. On the chart not one of the categories have went down. Every one of the categories rose in such a big jump that we really did not have time to react until it was too late. Private prisons have rose because of false claims that they cost less and save a lot more than for profit prisons. This is false because not enough substantial evidence could be found to support those claims. For profit prisons thrive from factors that they can not control, like crime rates (etc.). So when we lock more and more people away for minor offenses, those for profit prisons capitalize on that. In 2016 when it was announced that the justice system would phase out private prisons, stock prices dropped 50 percent. In 2017 when announced that they would not phase out private prisons, stocks more than doubled. I also believe that the justice system should eliminate their contracts with for profit prisons. From 2000-2016 the state of Illinois did not have anyone incarcerated in private prisons. From 2000-2016 more people were incarcerated in state private prisons than federal private prisons. In 2005 and on Geo group and Core Civic have spent $2.2 billion to get smaller companies in order to branch out and extend beyond incarceration. Core Civic has spent $270 million in halfway houses, these are places for prisoners to be able to transition from prison to normal life. In 1990s Florida became the second state to to use private prisons. New Mexico leads the nation in their dependence on private prisons. In 1998 New Mexico opened two private prisons with in two years. From 2000-2016 New Mexico saw a rise in for profit prisons. In the 2006 election cycle, Richardson got more donations from private prisons than any other official during the campaign. Private prisons contributed millions to president trump presidential campaign at least one prison is interested in finance with Trump. In 1980s texas experienced an overcrowding crisis. In 1987 Texas passed a contract allowing the state to build private prisons. States continue to ship people out of the state to other states to incarcerate people. It costs more for them to ship offenders out then what they are worth. The federal bed quota for immigration, at any point in time takes 34,000 beds. -crispychicken711
The first interesting thing I found in this article was just how significant the boom in the American prison population was- it jumped up about 200,000 across all types of incarceration (private, public, federal…etc) between 2000 and 2016. If we were to go back even further, the population growth is even significantly larger, with the growth percentage appearing to be seemingly made up. The next interesting thing I found in this article was that one in every twelve people in the U.S. have been incarcerated in private prisons (a statistic from 2016), which has gone up 47% since 2000. This absolutely astonishes me because I don’t know how I feel about companies being allowed to profit off of incarcerated individuals and housing them. According to the article, for-profit prison facilities have prospered due to more “cost efficient” service production to the inmates, but two surveys, one taken in 1996 and one in 2009, to see if this were true, but after the studies were done, the conductors of the survey came out to say “…these studies do not offer substantial evidence that savings have occurred.” The next interesting thing I found was that for-profit facilities have started compromising the security/necessity for proper job training by offering significantly lower salaries to its workers and employing far fewer workers, which in turn, has led to very high turn over rates. One of the next things I found interesting was that between two companies, Core Civic and GEO Group, they collectively hold over half of the prison contracts in the U.S. and have a combined revenue of over $3.5 billion (as of 2015). Another interesting statistic I found was that federal prisons prisons incarcerated the largest number of people in private prisons, (34,159), marking a 120 percent increase since 2000. This is, again, astonishing to me because I don’t feel as though our prison systems should be used to make profit off of. A big reason our prison population has boomed so much is because of things mandatory sentencing, which take away the judge’s ability to use discretion. The chaos caused by the prison boom has led private prisons to capitalize on the chaos and try to sign as many contracts as they possibly can, all over the U.S. Something else I found interesting was that between 2000 and 2016, 8 states, (Arkansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, North Dakota, Utah and Wisconsin), eliminated their use of private prisons due to concerns about safety and cost cutting. To me, this was a great win because our prison system should not be run with the intent of producing the most amount of profit possible- but should be run with the intent of keeping those inside safe, orderly, and the workers well compensated for doing a dangerous/not-very-highly-desired job. As I said previously, 8 states did eliminate private prisons between 2000 and 2016, which I was happy about, but in the same period that they all eliminated their private prisons, five states– Alabama, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Vermont – began contracting with private prisons. When one eliminates them, another steps up to fill their contract. The last interesting fact I found in this article was a statistic off a chart in the article- it states that 26,249 people were also confined in privately-run immigration detention facilities in fiscal year 2017, which is a 442 percent increase since 2002.This was by far, the biggest increase in the use of private prison systems that I saw in the article, and it absolutely stunned me. GHogue219711
The first interesting thing I found in this article was just how significant the boom in the American prison population was- it jumped up about 200,000 across all types of incarceration (private, public, federal…etc) between 2000 and 2016. If we were to go back even further, the population growth is even significantly larger, with the growth percentage appearing to be seemingly made up. The next interesting thing I found in this article was that one in every twelve people in the U.S. have been incarcerated in private prisons (a statistic from 2016), which has gone up 47% since 2000. This absolutely astonishes me because I don’t know how I feel about companies being allowed to profit off of incarcerated individuals and housing them. According to the article, for-profit prison facilities have prospered due to more “cost efficient” service production to the inmates, but two surveys, one taken in 1996 and one in 2009, to see if this were true, but after the studies were done, the conductors of the survey came out to say “…these studies do not offer substantial evidence that savings have occurred.” The next interesting thing I found was that for-profit facilities have started compromising the security/necessity for proper job training by offering significantly lower salaries to its workers and employing far fewer workers, which in turn, has led to very high turn over rates. One of the next things I found interesting was that between two companies, Core Civic and GEO Group, they collectively hold over half of the prison contracts in the U.S. and have a combined revenue of over $3.5 billion (as of 2015). Another interesting statistic I found was that federal prisons prisons incarcerated the largest number of people in private prisons, (34,159), marking a 120 percent increase since 2000. This is, again, astonishing to me because I don’t feel as though our prison systems should be used to make profit off of. A big reason our prison population has boomed so much is because of things mandatory sentencing, which take away the judge’s ability to use discretion. The chaos caused by the prison boom has led private prisons to capitalize on the chaos and try to sign as many contracts as they possibly can, all over the U.S. Something else I found interesting was that between 2000 and 2016, 8 states, (Arkansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, North Dakota, Utah and Wisconsin), eliminated their use of private prisons due to concerns about safety and cost cutting. To me, this was a great win because our prison system should not be run with the intent of producing the most amount of profit possible- but should be run with the intent of keeping those inside safe, orderly, and the workers well compensated for doing a dangerous/not-very-highly-desired job. As I said previously, 8 states did eliminate private prisons between 2000 and 2016, which I was happy about, but in the same period that they all eliminated their private prisons, five states– Alabama, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Vermont – began contracting with private prisons. When one eliminates them, another steps up to fill their contract. The last interesting fact I found in this article was a statistic off a chart in the article- it states that 26,249 people were also confined in privately-run immigration detention facilities in fiscal year 2017, which is a 442 percent increase since 2002.This was by far, the biggest increase in the use of private prison systems that I saw in the article, and it absolutely stunned me. GMan219711
The fact that the United States is the most jailing country in the world still leaves me shaking my head. You have countries like North korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia and we jail more citizens then them? This article really bring it all to light though. I read in the descriptive article that of 1.5 million people located at state and in federal prisons in the year of 2016, a percentage of 8.5, or 128,063 were incarcerated in private prison. Between the years of 2000 to 2016 the number of people housed in private prisons rose five times faster than the total prison population. You know what that is telling me? That is telling me that we are not fixing this over populated prison problem. It is only getting worse and worse from the early 80's up to present day. I understand that we are a county of laws, but we can not go jailing everybody for everything. It will get expensive, and overcrowded. I Found interesting that while both federal and state governments have increasingly relied on privatization since 2000, the federal prisons system's loyalty to privatization grew more increasingly. For some odd reason I would have suspected the state prisons to rely more on privatization. In the year of 2000 the number of federal prisoners held in private prisons rose 120 percent from 15,524 to 34,159. This is going up to the year of 2016. About 37% of them are now in halfway houses or are on home confinement. Rather than trying to incarcerate everybody, and purchase new prison beds, which gets very, very expensive, why are we not building rehab facilities for drugs, trying to get these guys the help they need. Im just saying we could be spending that money on more benifituary causes that will help forever. Instead of throwing them in prison. That doesn't always work out so well. I can understand if they are not a first offender. If they are a first offender though, maybe all they need is some help, hope and light in their life. -Bearsfan98
I found many things interesting reading this article. The top ones that stood out to me was 1. ‘’Six states have more than doubled the number of individuals in private prisons since 2000. I was aware of private prisons’’ I just didn’t know the rate was increasingly high. 2. ‘’The number of federal prisoners held in private prisons rose 120 percent from 15,524 in 2000 to 34,159 in 2016, while the number of state prisoners incarcerated privately grew by 31 percent over the same time period, from 71,845 to 94,164. Among those confined under private contracts in the federal system, about 37% are in halfway houses or are on home confinement.” 3’’Corrections officers employed by private corporations earn up to $23,850 less on average in annual salary compared to the public sector.” I would think that they would get paid more. 4. The organization is a nonprofit membership association focused on advancing “the Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism, and individual liberty.” 5. They help with prison healthcare and housing. 6. Private prison sustain problems that public prisons have failed to do. 7. Out of state prisons ship people off to states with private prisons to avoid the costing that comes with housing the inmate. 8.It provides an incentive to maintain private prison contracts and keep immigration detention beds full. 9.Mexico is dependant on private prisons. 10. They limit the staff to save more money. ~Justice711
“From 2000 to 2016 the number of people housed in private prisons increased five times faster than the total prison population. Over a similar timeframe, the proportion of people detained in private immigration facilities increased by 442 percent.” This is a crazy amount of change in a matter of 16 years! Does the government make any kind of money when sending inmates to a private prison or do they just send them there because they do not have enough room in the public prisons? “Of the total U.S. prison population, one in 12 people (128,063) was incarcerated in private prisons in 2016; an increase of 47 percent since 2000” One in 12 people is a small number but it is a lot of people people. “The largest private prison corporations, Core Civic and GEO Group, collectively manage over half of the private prison contracts in the United States with combined revenues of $3.5 billion as of 2015” This is a huge amount of money the government is spending to house inmates. These guys made 3.5 billion dollars and that was three years ago. Imagine how much money they have made by now. On table two, it is showing all of the people in each state that go to a private prison instead of a public prison. Illinois is surprisingly to me not a state that uses private prisons if I am reading the table correctly. With having a city such as Chicago and the crime rates that go along with it, I wonder why Illinois does not use private prisons. “In one GEO Group facility in Colorado, thousands of immigrant detainees were allegedly forced to work for $1 a day” Now I am all for these private prisons making their money and helping the government by housing all of these inmates and illegal immigrants but you can not force people to work for you. Even if you do, a dollar a day? You would need to pay them quite a bit more money or not make them work at all. Seems a little to unfair to me, convict or not. “Corrections officers employed by private corporations earn up to $23,850 less on average in annual salary compared to the public sector” I just found this to be interesting. With how much money these companies our making they should be able to pay their employees just as much as the public prisons i would think. “The facility expects to enroll up to 600 people and provide training, drug treatment and resources for reentry” The CEO company said this when they purchased a new facility. It is good to see that they are not just making money off of housing inmates but they are actually trying to help them as well. “New Mexico leads the nation in its dependence on private prisons” This is surprising to me. I would think that some states such as california or florida or texas would need more private prisons because of the amount of people in them. “The Department of Homeland Security’s bed quota for immigrant detention requires the agency to maintain no less than 34,000 beds at any given time.” Why? “ Labor costs normally account for 60 to 70 percent of annual operating budgets.” That is a good percentage to see really. They spend most of their money on labor and operating procedures. They are not just taking a bunch of money for themselves. They are mostly taking care of the people working in the prisons. -Steel711
I believe that private prisons are more work and a headache than any other institution. Private prisons are clearly known for more disregard to their inmates than public institutions. A prison in Colorado, thousands of immigrant detainees were forced to work for $1 a day. Nine of those immigrants filed a lawsuit and the Washington State attorney general sued on their behalf, cause state minimum wage was $11 an hour and they were being held under civil charges not criminal meaning that minimum wage must still be upheld. People that run private prisons and their employees are technically not government employees. SO they pretty much have a different set of rules and regulations. Also, corrections officers employed by private prisons earn on average $23,250 less than those employed by public sectors annually. Assaults in private prisons occur at double the rate found in public facilities. It is been said that, "privately operated prisons appear to have systemic problems in maintaining secure facilities". It is even illegal in the state of Illinois to have a private prison. Private prisons cost way too much money to hold up and they are being ran like businesses. In 2016, the Department Of Justice announced that it would phase out private prisons and stock prices dropped by 50%. To give a sense what private prisons are like, the people that run them, the GEO group (group that owns majority of private prisons) they changed their annual meeting spot from a resort in Boca Raton, Florida to the Trump National Golf club in Miami. THe club is reported to be the "single biggest contributor to Trump's cash flow". This same GEO group and Core civic (a private prison group) spent $2.2 billion to acquire smaller companies and have invested 270 million in the acquisition of halfway houses. In 2017, GEO group purchased the Alabama Therapeutic education facility for the Alabama Department of Corrections which set a two year contract for up to $18.8 million and they expect to enroll up to 600 people and provide training, drug treatment and resources for re-entry. Clearly, the treatment in private facilities are beyond different from public institutions. There are issues with the treatment, such as the immigrants that were paid in chips and chicken if they did well at their job. It is quite disgusting. It is almost like they feel they can get away with it in a sense, so why not treat prisoners like they do not matter to society? Cause if I were an inmate I would be horrified to be in a private institution. -notacop711
I found plenty of things in this article interesting and found some information I never knew!! 1.Page 9:”In 2002, approximately 4,800 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees were held in privately run facilities.13 By 2017, that number had jumped to 26,249 people.14 This expansion of detention was influenced by a shift in immigration policy enforcement.” 2.Page:10 “In 2002, approximately 4,800 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees were held in privately run facilities.13 By 2017, that number had jumped to 26,249 people.14 This expansion of detention was influenced by a shift in immigration policy enforcement.” 3.Page12: “Since 2005, GEO Group and Core Civic have spent $2.2 billion to acquire smaller companies in order to branch out to new industries beyond incarceration. For instance, in 2011, GEO Group acquired BI Incorporated, an ankle bracelet monitoring company. The companies also provide prison healthcare services and have established residential reentry centers”. 4.Page16:”Today, Florida has eight privately-run prison facilities. The GEO Group has its headquarters in Boca Raton and runs five of the facilities. In addition to adult prisons, 95% of Florida’s juvenile facilities are privately owned.47 In 2012, Governor Rick Scott and the Florida State Senate narrowly failed to pass a bill to privatize all adult correctional facilities.48” 5.Page17: “Beginning in 1998, New Mexico opened two private prisons within two years, the Lea County Correctional Facility and the Guadalupe Correctional Center, both operated by Wackenhut Correctional Center (currently known as GEO Group). Both facilities experienced violent incidents within the first year of opening. By January of 1999, 12 prisoners had been stabbed in Wackenhut correctional facilities. By 2000, four prisoners and one correctional officer had been killed.51 Riots protesting Wackenhut’s poor management in the Guadalupe and Lea County correctional facilities erupted and involved over 100 prisoners.52” 6.Page18:”At the municipal level, New York City has engaged in a debate about the city’s pension holdings in private prison companies. In 2017, the city of New York divested a total of $48 million in stocks and bonds from a range of for-profit correctional companies, the first municipal government in the country to do so.64” 7.Page19:”In 2008 with the private prison population at its peak of 20,000 people, Texas lawmakers recognized that TDCJ had overbuilt its prison capacity. Privately operated county jails, which had been built with an expectation of housing overflow from state facilities, had half their beds empty by 2011.75 Crime and incarceration rates were falling, which led many lawmakers to suggest that TDCJ was spending too much on prison beds. Several prisons have closed in Texas since 2011, including private facilities.76 By 2016 the number of people in private prisons dropped to 13,692.” 8.“The federal government is the single largest user of private prisons in the United States but has reduced its population in private prisons in recent years. However, in 2017 Attorney General Jeff Sessions withdrew an Obama-era directive to phase out private prison contracting because of concern for the federal correctional system’s ability “to meet future needs.”5” 9.“Between 2000 and 2016, the number of people incarcerated in private prison facilities increased 47 percent while the overall prison population increased 9 percent. The private prison population reached a peak of 137,220 in 2012; it then declined to 126,272 in 2015, before rising again in 2016 to 128,063.6” 10.“Prison privatization has prospered because of claims that for-profit facilities are more cost efficient at providing services than publicly-run institutions. The evidence does not support this assertion. “ KenzieLand711
1. The federal government is the world's leading user of private prison, but the population numbers have been decreasing over the years. I find this interesting because I think private prisons can save states more money if we keep them around. But Attorney General Jeff Session is making a big push the phase private prisons out of the U.S. 2. Private prison companies often hire low income and low skilled employees to do the jobs. I think that is absolutely wrong companies should not be hiring people off the streets that have little to none experiences in a prison setting. That could be potentially dangerous for the inmate and the employees. The companies also do not supply benefits or health care to any of these employees. 3. The biggest privately owned prison companies such as, Core Civic and GEO Group, manage over half of the private prison industry in the United States with combined revenues of $3.5 billion as of 2015. As I stated before if we keep these prison companies around, I think it could potentially save money for the state. 4. From the years 2000 to 2016, privately owned prisons populations rates have increased 47 percent. But the prison population at a whole has only increased 9 percent. So more convicted criminals are being put in privately owned institutions than public owned and state managed institutions. I just find that crazy that we have the facilities for the criminals but it doesn't seem like we are utilizing them. 5. 27 states in America utilize privately owned prison companies, and six stated have doubled their use of private prisons. So clearly we can see the trend that private prisons are popular for states to use. 6. “While both federal and state governments have increasingly relied on privatization since 2000, the federal prison system’s commitment to privatization grew more dramatically. The number of federal prisoners held in private prisons rose 120 percent from 15,524 in 2000 to 34,159 in 2016.” 7. Illegal immigrants that were detained by ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement), are held in privately owned institutions. 8. “In one GEO Group facility in Colorado, thousands of immigrant detainees were allegedly forced to work for $1 a day. Nine of those detainees filed a lawsuit against GEO Group claiming that they were paid for labor with “chicken, potato chips, soda, or candy.” That's obviously a problem, we cant put our prisoners into these privately owned institutions and abuse them and force them to work . 9. “According to ICE reports, arrests and detentions of immigrants have increased more than 40 percent since mid-2017. To accommodate the increases, President Trump’s 2018 proposed budget to Congress asked for $1.2 billion to add 15,000 more private prison beds for immigration detention.” Trump is funding for privately owned institutions, but Jeff Sessions is trying to get rid of them? 10. The last 40 years the U.S has seen a steady rise in increasement of prison populations, but now we are at a state where it is finally starting to cut off and lower. -I-Like-Cereal711
1."Between 2000 and 2016, the number of people incarcerated in private prison facilities increased 47 percent while the overall prison population increased 9 percent." 2."The number of federal prisoners held in private prisons rose 120 percent from 15,524 in 2000 to 34,159 in 2016, while the number of state prisoners incarcerated privately grew by 31 percent over the same time period, from 71,845 to 94,164." 3."Beginning in 2009, Congress established a quota for immigrant detention beds under appropriations law, requiring that the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) funding be linked to maintaining 33,400 immigration detention beds a day even if there were not a sufficient number of people in detention to fill them." 4."However, a report by the nonpartisan Policy Matters Ohio criticized the state’s measurements for comparing privately operated prisons to hypothetical public facilities, exaggerating overhead and staff costs for public prisons, and failing to account for the higher proportion of prisoners in public institutions requiring expensive high-level security." 5."Researchers also find that public facilities tend to be safer than their private counterparts and that “privately operated prisons appear to have systemic problems in maintaining secure facilities.” 6."When established in 1983, Corrections Corporation of America pledged to build and operate prisons with the same quality of service provided in publicly operated prisons but at a lower cost." 7."The United States has experienced 40 years of unprecedented growth in its prison population but a recent stabilization and modest reduction in incarceration has largely ended the prison building boom and now provides an opportunity to reexamine policies of prison privatization." 8."For many years Hawaii has flown prisoners thousands of miles to private prisons in Arizona. Other states that have adopted this practice include California and Idaho, which rely on for-profit prisons in Colorado, Oklahoma, and Mississippi." 9."However, in the 1990s, there was a massive expansion in New York’s correctional population, resulting in speculation that the state might contract with private facilities.62 In response, the corrections officer union began a campaign to lobby for a ban of for-profit prisons in the state." 10."By 2007, after an intensive lobbying effort by GEO Group, the Texas legislature passed a bill that expanded the number of people that private prisons could house at their facilities. This bill was sponsored by Rep. Jerry Madden, the head of the House Committee on Corrections, who was a proponent of privately-run prison facilities." -ny711
The first thing I found interesting was that the United States has the world’s largest private prison population. Of the 1.5 million people in state and federal prisons in 2016, 8.5 percent, or 128,063, were incarcerated in private prisons. This isn't really that hard to believe sense we do lock up so many more people than any other country it would make sense that we also have the largest private prison information. The second thing I found interesting was companies often trim prison budgets by employing mostly non-union and low skilled workers at lower salaries and offer limited benefits compared to staff at publicly run institutions. I think that this is not a good thing it puts everyone at risk the workers and inmates if they aren't properly trained and if we limit the benefit and programs to the prisoners it's only making it harder for them to reenter society. The third thing is that the largest private prison corporations, Core Civic and GEO Group, collectively manage over half of the private prison contracts in the United States with combined revenues of $3.5 billion as of 2015. If they are making that much money they will not want the prisoners to leave and reenter society. The fourth thing is Between 2000 and 2016, the number of people incarcerated in private prison facilities increased 47 percent while the overall prison population increased 9 percent. This is not surprising considering the amount of money they are making of them. The fifth thing is that the number of federal prisoners held in private prisons rose 120 percent from 15,524 in 2000 to 34,159 in 2016. This is shocking how much the number of prisoners is growing. The sixth thing is in May 2017, the DOJ issued a new solicitation to increase capacity by 1,600 beds in privately-run Criminal Alien Requirement facilities intended for noncitizens charged with lower-level offenses, including drug and immigration offenses. So they are continuing looking for ways to keep growing in prison population. The seventh thing I found interesting is that in 2002, approximately 4,800 Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees were held in privately run facilities.13 By 2017, that number had jumped to 26,249 people. The eighth thing is that prison privatization has prospered because of claims that for-profit facilities are more cost efficient at providing services than publicly run institutions. The evidence does not support this assertion. The ninth thing is the primary approach to controlling spending is by maintaining lower levels of staff benefits and salary than publicly run facilities. Labor costs normally account for 60 to 70 percent of annual operating budgets. This is crazy and like I said before dangerous. The tenth thing that the GEO Group and Core Civic have spent $2.2 billion to acquire smaller companies in order to branch out to new industries beyond incarceration. -pizza711
1. I find the rise of private prisons populations between 2000 and 2016 interesting but also extremely troubling. I’ve said before that I don’t think private companies have any right to profit off of prisoners. 2. The fact that the claims being made about private prisons saving money are unfounded after decades of research. That’s the main argument for why you would ever want private prisons and apparently it isn’t even accurate. That’s surprising. 3. Private prison population grew 47 percent from 2000 2016 yet the prison population overall increased only 9 percent. I wonder if part of this is because we ended up needing private prisons because we already have a huge population or if it’s because of lobbying efforts or probably some sort of mixture of the two. 4. Arizona had a whopping 479.4 percent increase of prisoners in private prisons. 5. On page 9 the author points out that under President Obama’s Department of Justice we were working on phasing out private prisons due to an increased risk of safety concerns and flow of contraband into the prisons but apparently in this administrations department of justice that policy was reversed and we should expect to see more of them. Also apparently prosecutors are being told to pursue the highest charges and toughest sentences in federal crimes. 6. GEO Group, a private prison, allegedly forced immigrant detainees to work for $1 a day. And nine of the detainees sued GEO Group for paying them in chicken, chips, soda, or candy. These are people that are being held for civil offenses, not even criminal offenses and they are being forced to work for $1 a day and some maybe working just to get fed. 7. Corrections Officers employed by private prisons make on average $23,850 less than those working in the public run prisons. This to me isn’t surprising but illustrates perfectly how private prisons will try to nickel and dime everything, including important things like the actual Correctional Officers. 8. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a lobbying firm made up of a couple of private prisons companies that has pushed laws onto our legislators that include things like 3 strike laws, mandatory sentencing, truth-in sentencing laws, all of which strangely enough lead to higher prison populations. 9. GEO Group had a combined revenue of $3.5 billion in 2015. So I can imagine it’s going to be difficult to convince them that private prisons shouldn’t be a thing. 10. “Since 2005, GEO Group and Core Civic have spent $2.2 billion to acquire smaller companies in order to branch out to new industries beyond incarceration. For instance, in 2011, GEO Group acquired BI Incorporated, an ankle bracelet monitoring company. The companies also provide prison healthcare services and have established residential reentry centers” This is another troubling fact. It seems that these giant companies want to control basically all aspects of our corrections process. This is extremely uncomfortable to me as I find it hard to believe we could ever hold private companies accountable enough to ensure they are working for the public good rather than for their own profits. Avatar711
One of the first things that I found interesting in this article is that in just 16 years the incarceration of people in private prison has increased by a staggering 47 percent. That is insane that our private prisons have nearly doubled in size in just a short amount of time. After its peak in 2012 with 137, 220 people in private prison, it had a decrease in its population in 2015, but shortly after the private prison population rose again in 2016. I find that interesting that the private population graph has declines in the it. I figured it to be a straight line heading up without any deviations. Out of the 27 states that use private prison beds the biggest jump was in Arizona. In that state they saw an increase of 479 percent more people be held in private prison compared to public from a time span between 2000 and 2016. Another statement in this article that surprised me was the increase in federal prisoners between 2000 and 2016. The increase in federal prisoners was 120 percent. In 2014 there was a change in the sentencing policy that decreased the number of people in private prisons. What doesn’t surprise me in this article is the jump of immigration detainees from 2002 to 2017. In that time span there was over a 20,000 more detainees, this was due to a change in immigration policy. Some of those detainees that were in Colorado were forced to work for a dollar a day. That is crazy to make a person work for just 1 dollar citizen or not. Nine of those detainees sued the GEO for being mandated to work for a dollar a day. Since mid-2017 the number of arrests and detentions of immigrants has increased by 40 percent. To deal with the problem President Trump proposed an increase of 15,000 more private beds to accommodate the increase. In the later part of 2017 ICE requested that a new immigration detention center to be built. This new facility would be located in South Texas and would be able to hold 1000 more immigrants. In 2009 a study was preformed by researchers from the University of Utah. They researched if private prisons are more cost efficient than publicly owned prisons. There findings showed that there was not a guaranteed that a private prison are more cost efficient that public ones. Studies did show that in private prisons assaults are twice as likely to happen than in a public prison. -ClarkKent711
1.) It does not surprise me that the United States has the world’s largest private prison population knowing that we are already known as the country who locks people up the most out of any other country. 2.) I wonder why 73 percent of all people in immigration detention were confined in privately-run facilities on a daily basis. It makes me think that our government saw this as the best way to separate and hold control on illegal immigration but honestly what would be the difference in holding them in a private prison versus a regular prison 3.) Out of the 50 states, 8 have decided to get rid of the use of private prisons bases on cost cutting. This simply shows how much we can't afford to incarcerate as many people as we do, especially for small petty things that take up time, space and money just to keep criminals who have done petty small crimes behind bars. 4.) “Arizona had the largest increase, holding 479 percent more people in private prisons in 2016 than in 2000, followed by Indiana , Ohio , Florida , Georgia , and Tennessee” Due to this text not fully explaining why these states are so overly populated with people in private prisons, this is something I’d like to talk about in class 5.) After reading about the private immigration facility, what it makes out to me to be is unfair conduct done by the government just because they know they have power over everything in that facility. It is said that In one GEO Group facility in Colorado, thousands of immigrant detainees were allegedly forced to work for $1 a day which nine of the detainees filed a lawsuit against the GEO Group. 6.) I’m glad that after the lawsuit the unfair act of paying $1 a day changed to the average minimum wage of $11 an hour in Colorado. 7.) Private prison companies face a challenge in reducing costs and offering services necessary to maintaining safety in prisons 8.) Corrections officers employed by private corporations earn up to $23,850 less on average in annual salary compared to the public sector. If it is so popular than what would be the reason why employees there get payed less elsewhere. 9.) Corrections Corporation of America pledged to build and operate prisons with the same quality of service provided in publicly operated prisons but at a lower cost. 10.) “Political influence has been instrumental in determining the growth of for-profit private prisons and continues today” Redbird711
I clearly will go to thanking Illinois for not having a private prison. You can obviously see the difference in size of populations in prisons rising. With the prison capacity rising the prices rise also and I do believe personally that with the current state of the country or i could go more specific and go into detail about how Illinois is even in a bad state of debt and money crisis. I’m also amazed by the large increase of population concerning private prisons. I just don't understand how someone just wakes up and decides to start a private prison. Are the laws the same for the prison? Are the living conditions the same? As my knowledge is very small other than reading this article about private prisons since I have lived in illinois my whole life I do not think the rising population in prisons is healthy for our country. How has the prison population increased 47% over 16 years? That is a huge gain in 16 years. Personally i think we should have less strict rules that are judges have to abide by. But i also don't like that there are also a lot of bias judges that will bring the incorrect amount of time on a person just because they don't feel like their time is being used correctly. As goes the other way some judges will drop charges just to make the time go by faster and make it so they don't have to actually charge anyone of a crime based on the bias they might get in return to their choice. Onto Immigration Detention centers, the population has increased 442% from 4,481 people to 26,249. That number does prove that we have a problem with immigrants in our country and it is showing the work our county is increasing in effectiveness but it still proves there is a large issue with the immigration numbers rising and being troubling to fix. Not trying to start a bad conversation with the whole “ICE” mishaps that are happening but I do think that our states are getting somewhere with trying to control and fix the Illegal immigration statistics but i do think they need to work in a different way than possible like how most people who come over from other countries should do some time but if they don't need to be taken out of this country. I believe we can find other ways to fix the problems we have with our prisons and detentions. -MyHandle711
1. The result of the war on drugs created mandatory minimum sentences. Which made prisons increases rapidly and over populated. 2. I found it interesting how approximately 4,800 immigration and customs workers were held in privately run places back in 2002. When 2017 rolled around the number increased to 26,249 people. 3. A reduction in the overall federal prison population that begin in 2014 resulted from changes in sentencing policy and influenced a modest decline in private prison use in 2016. 4. In order to overcome theses challenges, private prison companies at times have joint with lawmakers, corporation and interest groups to advocate for privatization through the American legislative exchange council. This organization is a non profit membership association focused on advancing the jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism an individual liberty. 5. When established in 1983, corrections corporation of America pledged to build and operate prisons with the same quality of service provided in publicly operated prisons but at a lower cost.core civic maintains more than 80,000 beds in over 70 facilities, including prisons, immigrant detentions, and reentry centers. 6. The United States has experienced 40 years of unprecedented growth in its prison population but a recent stabilization and modest reduction in incarceration has largely ended the prison building boom and now provides and opportunity to reexamine policies of prison privatization. 7. Since 2005, GEO group and core civic have spent $2.2 billion to acquire smaller companies in order to branch out to new industries beyond incarceration. 8.private prison companies face a challenge in reducing costs and offering services necessary to maintaining safety in prisons while also generating a profit for shareholders. 9. To accommodate the increases, present trump’s 2018 proposed budget to congress asked for $1.2 billion to add 15,000 more private prison beds for immigration detention. In September 2017 ICE requested that a new immigrant dentition center be constructed in south Texas, stating that it would need to hold approximately 1,000 more migrants. 10.in 2009, congress established a quota for immigrant detention beds under appropriations laws requiring that the department of homeland security’s funding be linked to maintaining 33,400 immigration detention beds a ay even if there were not a sufficient number of people in detention to fill them. I also find it interesting how there is some states that have 0 number of people incarcerated in private prisons considering the fact I thought prisons were always over populated. -jollyrancher711
The ten things that caught my eye the most reading this article are. 1) Companies often trim prison budgets by employing mostly non-union and low skilled workers at lower salaries and offer limited benefits compared to staff at publicly run institutions. 2) February 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the reversal of this plan, indicating that the Bureau of Prisons would continue to rely on these facilities. Sessions stated that private prison companies would assist in meeting “the future needs of the federal correctional system.” 3) The Department of Homeland Security’s bed quota for immigrant detention requires the agency to maintain no less than 34,000 beds at any given time. Because of this quota, Immigration and Customs Enforcement expanded its contracts with private prison companies to house federal immigrant detainees. 4) According to ICE reports, arrests and detentions of immigrants have increased more than 40 percent since mid-2017. 5) Beginning in 1998, New Mexico opened two private prisons within two years, the Lea County Correctional Facility and the Guadalupe Correctional Center, both operated by Wackenhut Correctional Center (currently known as GEO Group). Both facilities experienced violent incidents within the first year of opening. By January of 1999, 12 prisoners had been stabbed in Wackenhut correctional facilities. By 2000, four prisoners and one correctional officer had been killed. 6) States such as North Carolina have demonstrated that it is possible for governments to discontinue their reliance on for-profit prisons. 7) Since 2005, GEO Group and Core Civic have spent $2.2 billion to acquire smaller companies in order to branch out to new industries beyond incarceration. 8) In 2016, following the Department of Justice’s announcement that it would phase out private prisons, stock prices dropped 50 percent. 9) In order to overcome these challenges, private prison companies at times have joined with lawmakers, corporations, and interest groups to advocate for privatization through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). 10) Corrections officers employed by private corporations earn up to $23,850 less on average in annual salary compared to the public sector. Oliver Hart, the 2016 winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, contends that for-profit prison contracts lack sufficient incentives for proper job training. Consequently, there are higher employee turnover rates in private prisons than in publicly operated facilities.
1. “A reduction in the overall federal prison population that began in 2014 resulted from changes in sentencing policy and influenced a modest decline in private prison use in 2016.” This occurred because of the decline in the prison population. The report than concluded that private prisons were more safer and had less security incidents than the Bureau of Prisons.
ReplyDelete2. “In 2002, approximately 4,800 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees were held in privately run facilities.13 By 2017, that number had jumped to 26,249 people.14 This expansion of detention was influenced by a shift in immigration policy enforcement.” This surprises me. This is a huge number jump and we can clearly see how much law enforcement has cracked down on the immigrant policy.
3. “Congress established a quota for immigrant detention beds under appropriations law, requiring that the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) funding be linked to maintaining 33,400 immigration detention beds a day even if there were not a sufficient number of people in detention to fill them.” This number was blown out of proportion. We quickly knew that this number was not clearly enough and we started having issues because we did not provide enough space.
4. “The Attorney General argued that the state’s minimum wage was $11 an hour, and that the detainees were being held under “civil charges, not criminal charges,” meaning that that minimum wage must be upheld.” This also surprises me. Many inmates are paid very very less. Now yes, these immigrants only have civil charges but they still owe our country money and therefore, probably should not be making more money then some of the minimum wage jobs here in the United States.
5. “In September 2017 ICE requested that a new immigrant detention center be constructed in South Texas, stating that it would need to hold approximately 1,000 more migrant.” This would be very beneficial for us as a nation and helpful for immigrants coming from Mexico or even more south.
6. “Studies have found that assaults in private prisons can occur at double the rate found in public facilities.” Why does this occur? How can they prevent all the assaults? More workers? Safer security? What are they doing differently?
7. “In contrast to public prisons, private prisons frequently contract with state governments to confine people out-of-state, with 10,500 people housed this way as of 2013.” What is the purpose of this? It is then hard for inmates family to come and visit them. And majority of them don’t have the money to travel so therefore, they won’t make the trip. Do they do this so the inmates won’t see their families? Wouldn’t this cause more problems?
8. “New Mexico leads the nation in its dependence on private prisons.” Why do you think this is? Because New Mexico is so close to being near the south? OR because they have more room for private prisons?
9. Now that crime in general has decreased. What will happen to the prisons if they are not occupied? Will they sit there or will the be turned into some sort of different facility?
10. Staff wise and Law Enforcement. Who gets paid more? People that work at private prisons or people who work at normal prisons?
ProbdrinkingStar$’s711
I found many interesting things in the article that we had to read. On the article in the” Private Prison Companies Expanded Programing” section, I found that they are investing $270 million in the acquisition for halfway houses which are often used as a transition point between prison and release. I believe that is a good program because it helps people get on their feet. When releasing them with nothing and not helping them out just a little, it will be a chance that the person that was released will be right back in prison. But, with the program it will help them get a little feel for the real world and help them adjust to doing the right things out there. It also helps them get a job and find some where else to stay before being released from the halfway house. It Also, stated that Alabama Therapeutic Education Facility wants to enroll about 600 people to provide training, drug treatment, and resources for reentry. Which is a good idea because again it helps those who really wants to get out of prison and make a change in their lives. It also, will help the prison out because they will not have to invest more money into that person. In the Section “End the Practice of incarcerating people far from home” it mentions that States such as Vermont has no private prisons. They ship people out the state to avoid the cost of building state-run prison facilities. With this happening it creates a negative affect on those people families because they wont people able to see them much or at all. That is going to mess up people relationships with each other because they can’t visit or talk to them or even check up on them. And we all know that the prisoners must have money on there books to even get a phone call or I believe mail things out. I found that one in 12 people (128,063) was incarcerated in private prisons in 2016; an increase of 27% since 2000. I feel that they are only doing this because they don’t either have the money to have these people prisoned in their state or they are just sending people to prison for things they don’t need to be in prison for. That’s the problem now, we send people to prison for little things that can be handled different and not they have to invest in money to take care of these people that are in prison. Such as drug charges, I feel like those things can be handled different, but we can’t control the law. -BABYBLUE711
ReplyDelete1. “The United States has the world’s largest private prison population. Of the 1.5 million people in state and federal prisons in 2016, 8.5 percent, or 128,063, were incarcerated in private prisons. Another 26,249 people -73 percent of all people in immigration detention- were confined in privately-run facilities on a daily basis during fiscal year 2017.”
ReplyDelete2. “At the state level 27 states utilized private prison beds, with contracts ranging from a low of 12 in South Carolina to a high of 13,692 in Texas. Six states have more than doubled the number of individuals in private prisons since 2000. Arizona had the largest increase, holding 479 percent more people in private prisons in 2016 than in 2000, followed by Indiana (296 percent), Ohio (226 percent), Florida (211 percent), Georgia (113 percent), and Tennessee (112 percent).”
3. “In one GEO Group facility in Colorado, thousands of immigrant detainees were allegedly forced to work for $1 a day. Nine of those detainees filed a lawsuit against GEO Group claiming that they were paid for labor with “chicken, potato chips, soda, or candy.”17 In Washington State in 2017, the state’s Attorney General sued GEO Group for allegations that immigrant detainees were mandated to work for $1 a day. The Attorney General argued that the state’s minimum wage was $11 an hour, and that the detainees were being held under “civil charges, not criminal charges,” meaning that that minimum wage must be upheld.”
4. “In Ohio, state officials have contended that private facilities regularly meet or surpass the legal requirement of containing costs at least five percent below a state-run equivalent.”
5. “In Arizona, which also has cost-saving requirements for private prisons, research conducted by the state’s Department of Corrections in 2010 found that the state had not saved money by contracting out minimum security beds, and that more money is actually spent on private medium security beds than would be spent in a publicly operated institution.”
6. “Corrections officers employed by private corporations earn up to $23,850 less on average in annual salary compared to the public sector.”
7. “In Montana, lawmakers are fiercely debating the merits of accepting a cash payment of $35.7 million from Core Civic for renewal of the state’s prison contract which ends in 2019. The money had originally been set aside to allow the state to purchase the private facility. The state is facing a major budget shortfall and many in the legislature are urging the governor to accept the offer. Negotiations have stalled because of complaints of comparatively low pay for corrections officers compared to the state’s publicly-run prisons, and restrictions on staff unionizing.”
8. “The United States has experienced 40 years of unprecedented growth in its prison population but a recent stabilization and modest reduction in incarceration has largely ended the prison building boom and now provides an opportunity to reexamine policies of prison privatization.”
9. “In contrast to public prisons, private prisons frequently contract with state governments to confine people out-of-state, with 10,500 people housed this way as of 2013.40 States such as Vermont—which has no private prisons—shipped people out of state to avoid the cost of building state-run prison facilities.”
10. “The Department of Homeland Security’s bed quota for immigrant detention requires the agency to maintain no less than 34,000 beds at any given time. Because of this quota, Immigration and Customs Enforcement expanded its contracts with private prison companies to house federal immigrant detainees. It provides an incentive to maintain private prison contracts and keep immigration detention beds full.”
-BoyMom711
1. “From 2000 to 2016 the number of people housed in private prisons increased ve times faster than the total prison population. Over a similar timeframe, the proportion of people detained in private immigration facilities increased by 442 percent.”
ReplyDelete2.“ In one GEO Group facility in Colorado, thousands of immigrant detainees were allegedly forced to work for $1 a day. Nine of those detainees led a lawsuit against GEO Group claiming that they were paid for labor with “chicken, potato chips, soda, or candy.”17 In Washington State in 2017, the state’s Attorney General sued GEO Group for allegations that immigrant detainees were mandated to work for $1 a day. The Attorney General argued that the state’s minimum wage was $11 an hour, and that the detainees were being held under “civil charges, not criminal charges,” meaning that that minimum wage must be upheld.”
3. “Corrections officers employed by private corporations earn up to $23,850 less on average in annual salary compared to the public sector.26 Oliver Hart, the 2016 winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, contends that for-profit prison contracts lack sufficient incentives for proper job training. Consequently, there are higher employee turnover rates in private prisons than in publicly operated facilities.”
4.“According to ICE reports, arrests and detentions of immigrants have increased more than 40 percent since mid-2017. To accommodate the increases, President Trump’s 2018 proposed budget to Congress asked for $1.2 billion to add 15,000 more private prison beds for immigration detention.20 In September 2017 ICE requested that a new immigrant detention center be constructed in South Texas, stating that it would need to hold approximately 1,000 more migrants.21 This facility will be operated by GEO Group, and is expected to open in late 2018. GEO Group and Core Civic will reportedly be pursuing additional contracts to meet the detention demands of President Trump’s immigration policies.”
5. “The United States has the world’s largest private prison population. Of the 1.5 million people in state and federal prisons in 2016, 8.5 percent, or 128,063, were incarcerated in private prisons.1 Another 26,249 people -73 percent of all people in immigration detention- were con ned in privately-run facilities on a daily basis during scale year 2017.”
6, “The federal government is the single largest user of private prisons in the United States but has reduced its population in private prisons in recent years. However, in 2017 Attorney General Jeff Sessions withdrew an Obama-era directive to phase out private prison contracting because of concern for the federal correctional system’s ability “to meet future needs.”
7. “New Mexico had the highest proportion of its population held privately in both 2000 and 2016, with respective rates of 40 and 43 percent, followed closely by Montana with a rate of 39 percent in 2016. Four additional states incarcerated 20% or more of their prison population privately.”
8. “In 2002, approximately 4,800 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees were held in privately run facilities.13 By 2017, that number had jumped to 26,249 people.14 This expansion of detention was in uenced by a shift in immigration policy enforcement.”
9. “The Department of Homeland Security’s bed quota for immigrant detention requires the agency to maintain no less than 34,000 beds at any given time. Because of this quota, Immigration and Customs Enforcement expanded its contracts with private prison companies to house federal immigrant detainees. It provides an incentive to maintain private prison contracts and keep immigration detention beds full.”
10. “These dynamics may contribute to safety problems within prisons. Studies have found that assaults in private prisons can occur at double the rate found in public facilities. Researchers also nd that public facilities tend to be safer than their private counterparts and that “privately operated prisons appear to have systemic problems in maintaining secure facilities.”
-mmmChicken711
1) Between 2000 and 2016, the number of people incarcerated in private prison facilities increased 47 percent while the overall prison population increased 9 percent. In 2012, the private prison population peaked at 137,220. Then declined in 2015, 126272, before rising back up again in 2016 to 128,063.
ReplyDelete2) In 2002, approximately 4,800 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees were held in privately run facilities. In 2017, the number increased 26,249 people. The increase was caused by the shift in immigration policy enforcement.
3) Prison privatization has prospered because of claims that for-profit facilities are more cost efficient at providing services than publicly-run institutions. The U.S. General Accounting Office (or GAO) looked at four state funded studies and commissioned by the federal government. They looked at the cost benefits of private prisons, and found varied answers. This lead to the authors to conclude quote “… these studies do not offer substantial evidence that saving have occurred. When they did the study again in 2009, the GAO found the same conclusions.
4) Six states have more than doubled the number of individuals in private prisons since 2000. Arizona had the largest increase, with 479% more people in private prisons in 2016 than those in 2000. Indiana followed with 296%, Ohio at 226% and Florida at 211%.
5) The number of federal prisoners held in private prisons rose 120 percent from 15,524 in 2000 to 34,159 in 2016, while the number of state prisoners incarcerated privately grew by 31 percent over the same time period, from 71,845 to 94,164. Among those who were confined under private contracts, about 37% were in half way houses or home confinement.
6) Corrections officers employed by private corporations earn up to $23,850 less on average in annual salary compared to the public sector. Oliver Hart, who won the Nobel Prize in economics, found that for-profit prisons contracts lack enough motivation to train proper job training. Thus, there are higher employee turnover rates in private prisons than in public facilities.
7) Researchers, find that public facilities tend to be safer than their private counterparts and that “privately operated prisons appear to have systemic problems in maintaining secure facilities.” Some studies have found that assault in private prisons can occur double the rate than in public facilities.
8) The United States has the world’s largest private prison population. In 2016, 1.5 million people in state and federal prisons, 8.5% were incarcerated in private prisons. In 2017, another 73% of all people in the immigration detentions were confined in private run facilities.
9) The federal government and 27 states utilized private prisons operated by for-profit and non-profit entities during 2016. New Mexico and Montana led in private prisons. With New Mexico with 43% and Montana with 39%, of their private prisons housed within them. Between 2000 and 2016, Alabama, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Vermont began to contract with private prisons.
10) A reduction in the overall federal prison population that began in 2014 resulted from changes in sentencing policy and influenced a modest decline in private prison use in 2016. The declines in the prison population helped persuade, then, President Obama’s Department of Justice to phase out private prison contracts. –Adventureflight711
Page 5 Overview: “The federal government is the single largest user of private prisons in the United States but has reduced its population in private prisons in the recent years. However, in 2017 Attorney General Jeff Sessions withdrew an Obama-era directive to phase out private prison contracting because of concern for the federal correctional system’s ability ‘to meet future needs.’
ReplyDeletePage 9 (time frame 2000 to 2016) “Among those confined, about 37 percent are in halfway houses or are on home confinement.”
Page 9: “In 2002, approximately 4,800 Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees were held in privately run facilities. By 2017, that number had jumped to 26,259 people. This expansion of detention was influenced by a shift in immigration policy enforcement.”
Page 9: To accommodate the increases, President Trump’s 2018 proposed budget to Congress asked for 1.2 billion to add 15,000 more private prison beds for immigration detention.
Page 11: Studies have found that assaults in private prisons can occur at double the rate found in public facilities. Researchers also find that public facilities tend to be safer than their private counterparts and that ‘privately operated prisons appear to have systemic problems in maintaining secure facilities.’”
A private prison can refuse to share disclosed information about its practices because the federal Freedom of Information Act does not apply to private prisons. (reword of statement from bottom right of page 14)
States ship prisoners to private prisons to save money. In other words, they send people to private prisons so that they do not 1: have to house another inmate (cause one does cost a lot) and 2: they do not have to worry about building their own in-state prison OR build another prison. (summary from section “End the practice of incarcerating people far from home) page 15.
Page 16: “95% of Florida’s juvenile facilities are privately owned.
A recurring topic that came up in the article several times was how many states or rather almost every individual believed that a private owned for-profit facilities save money. For example, North Carolina closed theirs early and terminated a contract because they realized how much of a failure it is.
For-profit prisons contracts lack enough motivation to proper job training.
-tanlion_nala711
Mandatory minimum sentencing has contributed a lot to the mass incarceration problems we have had in the United States. These sentencings have been a key contribution because of people being sentenced to years behind bars for petty drug offenses. From 2000 to 2016 prison population grew five times that of what it was before. These numbers are astronomical. Immigration facilities alone have increased 442 percent, but most of this growth comes from private for profit institutions. But something that shocked me was that Illinois has no private prisons even though Illinois is in the top fifty percent for incarceration rates. Seeing that illinois has no private prisons brings a little bit of light to my home state. The biggest concerns for private prison are quality and safety as repeated multiple times throughout the article. Private prisons are for profit so they seek to find the cheapest ways to “take care” of their inmates, this raises concerns because they could be cutting cost in very important areas like food. Also since private prisons profit off of their inmates how and why would they help to decrease our prison population when our prison population is filling their pockets more and more. It has been shown that private prison do not save our government any money so what is the true purpose of them? They find the cheapest way to house inmates but dont drop the price for the states and feds. The article gives some advice to how our federal and local governments can get rid of their use of private prisons. One is eliminating contracts with private prison, we have seen that it is very possible to do so because we have seen it done in north carolina and some states alike. The article also hits on ending incarceration far from home because of the needs of prisoners. When incarcerating someone far from home it plays a toll on their mental health because families cant visit often or sometimes at all. - RickyBobby711
ReplyDeleteIn this article it states that private prisons have increased 47% and states that the overall incarceration rate has increased by 9%. Private prisons population was mainly dominated by New Mexico in 2000 and 2016, with 40% and 43%. From 2000 to 2016, six states have doubled the amount of private prisons in this timespan. Since 2000 to 2016 federal prisoners held in private prisons increased a grand of 120% "15,524 in 2000 to 34,159 in 2016", But most federal prisoners that are held in private contracts, roughly 37%, "are in halfway houses or are on home confinement". President Obama Department of Justice phased out federal private for profit contracts because of the overall decrease in federal prisons, the decrease came because of the sentencing policy had changed. In May of 2017 the Department of Justice increased their bed counts by 1,600 that is intended for drug and immigration offenses, lower offenses. In 2009, Congress made a quota for the beds under appropriations law and by 2013 the amount of beds had raised to 34,000. Most of these immigration prisoners were fleeing places such as, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, but in these immigration centers there were many reports of assault, hunger protests, and medical neglect. In one GEO group in Colorado did a study and lots of these immigration prisoners claimed that they were forced to work for a dollar a day, in the article it states that the prisoners filed a lawsuit against this GEO and they won the lawsuit which changed the minimum wage to eleven dollars a hour because they are under "civil charges, not criminal, meaning that the minimum wage must be upheld", I feel like what this GEO group did is unacceptable because nobody should or could live off of one dollar a day. GAO looked into how to save funds when it comes to private prisons but they found that private prisons doesn't show a pro nor a con to a public prison but they did find that saving funds are not guaranteed from private prisoners but not impossible. In prisons the most amount where our funds go to is about 60% to 70% of funds to the safety and security inside our prisons. They have made "for-profit" prisons which their intentions are just to raise money but the size and status of that persons prison generally holds a lower standpoint then to other prisons.
ReplyDeleteThis whole article about private prisons and saving funds is interesting but it does show good points about how the private prisons are a good money saving idea for now but in the future we should find a way to save funds better but I know prisons are hard to maintain
-z33 711
This article has tons of convicting information within each line. I feel that the general public should be more aware of research like this and how it affects them and the community around them. This article has the power to change how we view prison and private prisons. It was challenging to wade through all the data that this article had to offer, however, there are 10 things I would like to discuss. The first is, Private prison population has increased 47 percent within 16 years. This is mostly due to the federal government wanting to save money. It is far cheaper for a person to be held in a private than a publicly owned prison. 2) Private prison officers earn up to $23,850 less on average in annual salary than those who work at a state-owned prison. $23,850, that is crazy how much money the prison is withholding from their employee’s. To put into prospective, that amount of money is about what it takes to buy a new car. Crazy. 3) By having the mentality of trying to save money, the private prison could compromise the safety; and that is something that should not be neglected. There are better ways to save money than possibly compromise the safety of the community. 4) One in twelve people who are incarcerated are placed into a privately-owned prison. Not even half of the incarcerated are held in private prisons. I think that is a fairly small amount compared to what it could be. 5) Within six years Texas prisons increased by 113 percent. That number should scare us, should scare a lot. We as a country can not keep this up, that rate is far too high to maintain. 6) Florida’s private prisons has tripled within six years. What is happening to our criminal justice system for that kind of increase in private prisons? Something is definitely to blame for such a drastic expansion. It’s getting out of control. 7) 95 percent of Florida’s juveniles’ facilities are privately owned. That is a huge number, 95 percent, so pretty much all of Florida’s juveniles are held within a private facility. That data should be concerning. I was surprised on how many juveniles’ facilities are privately owned. I didn’t realize that. 8) President Trump allotting 1.2 billion dollars to add 15,000 more private prison beds. I found this to interesting. My thought on this, does it really take 1.2 billion dollars to buy just 15,000 beds? 9)Then my second thought is, if the president allotted that much money to be used for that many beds, he must be aware of the drastic increase of prison population. Buying more beds is just temporary fix to the problem. The whole sentencing process should have a different approach. Finally, 10) Immigration and customs enforcement was at 4,800 in 2002 and now in 2017 that number is at 26,249. As a country we are experiencing a large increase in immigrates within 15 years. I didn’t know the number of immigrates in custody was so extreme. -CoalRoller117
ReplyDeleteIt surprised me when I saw some of the percentages of incarceration in private prisons. Arizona increased by 479.4 and that seems like a big increase. Ever since 2005, $2.2 billion dollars has been spent to get smaller companies in order to branch out to new industries beyond incarceration. Core Civic has invested $270 million for halfway houses. This is used for the change between prison and release. The GEO Group bought the Alabama Therapeutic Education Facility in 2017 and they set up a contract for $18.8 million dollars and they want to sign up 600 people and help them with training, drug treatment, and resource for reentry. The Department of Homeland Security has a bed quota for immigrant detention and they cant have less than 34,000 beds at any time. Florida was the second state after Texas to bein using private prisons and that was in the early 1990s. Florida now has eight prisons facilities that are ran privately. In Florida, 95% of the juvenile facilities are now privately owned. New Mexico opened two private prisons at the beginning in 1998 and that was within two years and both of the prisons have violent incidents within the first year of them being. 12 prisoners were stabbed in the correctional facility and that happened in 1999 during January. There was 4 prisoners killed and a correctional officer was killed and that happened in 2000. In the correctional facility in New Mexico, people feared for their safety and when they wanted to be reassigned, they got denied. North Carolina is one of the handful of states to shut down its for-profit prisons. They do have a few dozen individuals that are housed in a non-profit facility. The facility houses women who are trying to finish their prison sentences. Besides the institution, the state relies on state-run prison facilities. In Texas, there was an overcrowding in the 1980s. Admissions were rising and it was increased by 113 percent and that was from 1980 to 1986. The outpaced system capacity was raised by 52 percent. There was tougher penalties and the prison population continued to grow in the 1990s. The lawmakers in Texas realized that TDCJ had overbuilt the prison capacity. That occurred in 2008. The incarceration and crime rates started decreasing and at least half of the beds were empty in 2011 and multiple prisons were closed and some were private facilities. There were 13,692 people in private prisons by 2016. -Soccer31711
ReplyDeleteFrom 2000 to 2016 there was a 120% change in federal private prisons, and 442% change in private immigration detention. On the chart not one of the categories have went down. Every one of the categories rose in such a big jump that we really did not have time to react until it was too late. Private prisons have rose because of false claims that they cost less and save a lot more than for profit prisons. This is false because not enough substantial evidence could be found to support those claims. For profit prisons thrive from factors that they can not control, like crime rates (etc.). So when we lock more and more people away for minor offenses, those for profit prisons capitalize on that. In 2016 when it was announced that the justice system would phase out private prisons, stock prices dropped 50 percent. In 2017 when announced that they would not phase out private prisons, stocks more than doubled. I also believe that the justice system should eliminate their contracts with for profit prisons. From 2000-2016 the state of Illinois did not have anyone incarcerated in private prisons. From 2000-2016 more people were incarcerated in state private prisons than federal private prisons. In 2005 and on Geo group and Core Civic have spent $2.2 billion to get smaller companies in order to branch out and extend beyond incarceration. Core Civic has spent $270 million in halfway houses, these are places for prisoners to be able to transition from prison to normal life. In 1990s Florida became the second state to to use private prisons. New Mexico leads the nation in their dependence on private prisons. In 1998 New Mexico opened two private prisons with in two years. From 2000-2016 New Mexico saw a rise in for profit prisons. In the 2006 election cycle, Richardson got more donations from private prisons than any other official during the campaign. Private prisons contributed millions to president trump presidential campaign at least one prison is interested in finance with Trump. In 1980s texas experienced an overcrowding crisis. In 1987 Texas passed a contract allowing the state to build private prisons. States continue to ship people out of the state to other states to incarcerate people. It costs more for them to ship offenders out then what they are worth. The federal bed quota for immigration, at any point in time takes 34,000 beds. -crispychicken711
ReplyDeleteThe first interesting thing I found in this article was just how significant the boom in the American prison population was- it jumped up about 200,000 across all types of incarceration (private, public, federal…etc) between 2000 and 2016. If we were to go back even further, the population growth is even significantly larger, with the growth percentage appearing to be seemingly made up.
ReplyDeleteThe next interesting thing I found in this article was that one in every twelve people in the U.S. have been incarcerated in private prisons (a statistic from 2016), which has gone up 47% since 2000. This absolutely astonishes me because I don’t know how I feel about companies being allowed to profit off of incarcerated individuals and housing them.
According to the article, for-profit prison facilities have prospered due to more “cost efficient” service production to the inmates, but two surveys, one taken in 1996 and one in 2009, to see if this were true, but after the studies were done, the conductors of the survey came out to say “…these studies do not offer substantial evidence that savings have occurred.”
The next interesting thing I found was that for-profit facilities have started compromising the security/necessity for proper job training by offering significantly lower salaries to its workers and employing far fewer workers, which in turn, has led to very high turn over rates.
One of the next things I found interesting was that between two companies, Core Civic and GEO Group, they collectively hold over half of the prison contracts in the U.S. and have a combined revenue of over $3.5 billion (as of 2015).
Another interesting statistic I found was that federal prisons prisons incarcerated the largest number of people in private prisons, (34,159), marking a 120 percent increase since 2000. This is, again, astonishing to me because I don’t feel as though our prison systems should be used to make profit off of.
A big reason our prison population has boomed so much is because of things mandatory sentencing, which take away the judge’s ability to use discretion. The chaos caused by the prison boom has led private prisons to capitalize on the chaos and try to sign as many contracts as they possibly can, all over the U.S.
Something else I found interesting was that between 2000 and 2016, 8 states, (Arkansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, North Dakota, Utah and Wisconsin), eliminated their use of private prisons due to concerns about safety and cost cutting. To me, this was a great win because our prison system should not be run with the intent of producing the most amount of profit possible- but should be run with the intent of keeping those inside safe, orderly, and the workers well compensated for doing a dangerous/not-very-highly-desired job.
As I said previously, 8 states did eliminate private prisons between 2000 and 2016, which I was happy about, but in the same period that they all eliminated their private prisons, five states– Alabama, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Vermont – began contracting with private prisons. When one eliminates them, another steps up to fill their contract.
The last interesting fact I found in this article was a statistic off a chart in the article- it states that 26,249 people were also confined in privately-run immigration detention facilities in fiscal year 2017, which is a 442 percent increase since 2002.This was by far, the biggest increase in the use of private prison systems that I saw in the article, and it absolutely stunned me. GHogue219711
The first interesting thing I found in this article was just how significant the boom in the American prison population was- it jumped up about 200,000 across all types of incarceration (private, public, federal…etc) between 2000 and 2016. If we were to go back even further, the population growth is even significantly larger, with the growth percentage appearing to be seemingly made up.
ReplyDeleteThe next interesting thing I found in this article was that one in every twelve people in the U.S. have been incarcerated in private prisons (a statistic from 2016), which has gone up 47% since 2000. This absolutely astonishes me because I don’t know how I feel about companies being allowed to profit off of incarcerated individuals and housing them.
According to the article, for-profit prison facilities have prospered due to more “cost efficient” service production to the inmates, but two surveys, one taken in 1996 and one in 2009, to see if this were true, but after the studies were done, the conductors of the survey came out to say “…these studies do not offer substantial evidence that savings have occurred.”
The next interesting thing I found was that for-profit facilities have started compromising the security/necessity for proper job training by offering significantly lower salaries to its workers and employing far fewer workers, which in turn, has led to very high turn over rates.
One of the next things I found interesting was that between two companies, Core Civic and GEO Group, they collectively hold over half of the prison contracts in the U.S. and have a combined revenue of over $3.5 billion (as of 2015).
Another interesting statistic I found was that federal prisons prisons incarcerated the largest number of people in private prisons, (34,159), marking a 120 percent increase since 2000. This is, again, astonishing to me because I don’t feel as though our prison systems should be used to make profit off of.
A big reason our prison population has boomed so much is because of things mandatory sentencing, which take away the judge’s ability to use discretion. The chaos caused by the prison boom has led private prisons to capitalize on the chaos and try to sign as many contracts as they possibly can, all over the U.S.
Something else I found interesting was that between 2000 and 2016, 8 states, (Arkansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, North Dakota, Utah and Wisconsin), eliminated their use of private prisons due to concerns about safety and cost cutting. To me, this was a great win because our prison system should not be run with the intent of producing the most amount of profit possible- but should be run with the intent of keeping those inside safe, orderly, and the workers well compensated for doing a dangerous/not-very-highly-desired job.
As I said previously, 8 states did eliminate private prisons between 2000 and 2016, which I was happy about, but in the same period that they all eliminated their private prisons, five states– Alabama, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Vermont – began contracting with private prisons. When one eliminates them, another steps up to fill their contract.
The last interesting fact I found in this article was a statistic off a chart in the article- it states that 26,249 people were also confined in privately-run immigration detention facilities in fiscal year 2017, which is a 442 percent increase since 2002.This was by far, the biggest increase in the use of private prison systems that I saw in the article, and it absolutely stunned me. GMan219711
The fact that the United States is the most jailing country in the world still leaves me shaking my head. You have countries like North korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia and we jail more citizens then them? This article really bring it all to light though. I read in the descriptive article that of 1.5 million people located at state and in federal prisons in the year of 2016, a percentage of 8.5, or 128,063 were incarcerated in private prison. Between the years of 2000 to 2016 the number of people housed in private prisons rose five times faster than the total prison population. You know what that is telling me? That is telling me that we are not fixing this over populated prison problem. It is only getting worse and worse from the early 80's up to present day. I understand that we are a county of laws, but we can not go jailing everybody for everything. It will get expensive, and overcrowded.
ReplyDeleteI Found interesting that while both federal and state governments have increasingly relied on privatization since 2000, the federal prisons system's loyalty to privatization grew more increasingly. For some odd reason I would have suspected the state prisons to rely more on privatization. In the year of 2000 the number of federal prisoners held in private prisons rose 120 percent from 15,524 to 34,159. This is going up to the year of 2016. About 37% of them are now in halfway houses or are on home confinement. Rather than trying to incarcerate everybody, and purchase new prison beds, which gets very, very expensive, why are we not building rehab facilities for drugs, trying to get these guys the help they need. Im just saying we could be spending that money on more benifituary causes that will help forever. Instead of throwing them in prison. That doesn't always work out so well. I can understand if they are not a first offender. If they are a first offender though, maybe all they need is some help, hope and light in their life. -Bearsfan98
I found many things interesting reading this article. The top ones that stood out to me was
ReplyDelete1. ‘’Six states have more than doubled the number of individuals in private prisons since 2000. I was aware of private prisons’’ I just didn’t know the rate was increasingly high.
2. ‘’The number of federal prisoners held in private prisons rose 120 percent from 15,524 in 2000 to 34,159 in 2016, while the number of state prisoners incarcerated privately grew by 31 percent over the same time period, from 71,845 to 94,164. Among those confined under private contracts in the federal system, about 37% are in halfway houses or are on home confinement.”
3’’Corrections officers employed by private corporations earn up to $23,850 less on average in annual salary compared to the public sector.” I would think that they would get paid more.
4. The organization is a nonprofit membership association focused on advancing “the Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism, and individual liberty.”
5. They help with prison healthcare and housing.
6. Private prison sustain problems that public prisons have failed to do.
7. Out of state prisons ship people off to states with private prisons to avoid the costing that comes with housing the inmate.
8.It provides an incentive to maintain private prison contracts and keep immigration detention beds full.
9.Mexico is dependant on private prisons.
10. They limit the staff to save more money. ~Justice711
“From 2000 to 2016 the number of people housed in private prisons increased five times faster than the total prison population. Over a similar timeframe, the proportion of people detained in private immigration facilities increased by 442 percent.” This is a crazy amount of change in a matter of 16 years! Does the government make any kind of money when sending inmates to a private prison or do they just send them there because they do not have enough room in the public prisons?
ReplyDelete“Of the total U.S. prison population, one in 12 people (128,063) was incarcerated in private prisons in 2016; an increase of 47 percent since 2000” One in 12 people is a small number but it is a lot of people people.
“The largest private prison corporations, Core Civic and GEO Group, collectively manage over half of the private prison contracts in the United States with combined revenues of $3.5 billion as of 2015” This is a huge amount of money the government is spending to house inmates. These guys made 3.5 billion dollars and that was three years ago. Imagine how much money they have made by now.
On table two, it is showing all of the people in each state that go to a private prison instead of a public prison. Illinois is surprisingly to me not a state that uses private prisons if I am reading the table correctly. With having a city such as Chicago and the crime rates that go along with it, I wonder why Illinois does not use private prisons.
“In one GEO Group facility in Colorado, thousands of immigrant detainees were allegedly forced to work for $1 a day” Now I am all for these private prisons making their money and helping the government by housing all of these inmates and illegal immigrants but you can not force people to work for you. Even if you do, a dollar a day? You would need to pay them quite a bit more money or not make them work at all. Seems a little to unfair to me, convict or not.
“Corrections officers employed by private corporations earn up to $23,850 less on average in annual salary compared to the public sector” I just found this to be interesting. With how much money these companies our making they should be able to pay their employees just as much as the public prisons i would think.
“The facility expects to enroll up to 600 people and provide training, drug treatment and resources for reentry” The CEO company said this when they purchased a new facility. It is good to see that they are not just making money off of housing inmates but they are actually trying to help them as well.
“New Mexico leads the nation in its dependence on private prisons” This is surprising to me. I would think that some states such as california or florida or texas would need more private prisons because of the amount of people in them.
“The Department of Homeland Security’s bed quota for immigrant detention requires the agency to maintain no less than 34,000 beds at any given time.” Why?
“ Labor costs normally account for 60 to 70 percent of annual operating budgets.” That is a good percentage to see really. They spend most of their money on labor and operating procedures. They are not just taking a bunch of money for themselves. They are mostly taking care of the people working in the prisons. -Steel711
I believe that private prisons are more work and a headache than any other institution. Private prisons are clearly known for more disregard to their inmates than public institutions. A prison in Colorado, thousands of immigrant detainees were forced to work for $1 a day. Nine of those immigrants filed a lawsuit and the Washington State attorney general sued on their behalf, cause state minimum wage was $11 an hour and they were being held under civil charges not criminal meaning that minimum wage must still be upheld. People that run private prisons and their employees are technically not government employees. SO they pretty much have a different set of rules and regulations. Also, corrections officers employed by private prisons earn on average $23,250 less than those employed by public sectors annually. Assaults in private prisons occur at double the rate found in public facilities. It is been said that, "privately operated prisons appear to have systemic problems in maintaining secure facilities". It is even illegal in the state of Illinois to have a private prison. Private prisons cost way too much money to hold up and they are being ran like businesses. In 2016, the Department Of Justice announced that it would phase out private prisons and stock prices dropped by 50%. To give a sense what private prisons are like, the people that run them, the GEO group (group that owns majority of private prisons) they changed their annual meeting spot from a resort in Boca Raton, Florida to the Trump National Golf club in Miami. THe club is reported to be the "single biggest contributor to Trump's cash flow". This same GEO group and Core civic (a private prison group) spent $2.2 billion to acquire smaller companies and have invested 270 million in the acquisition of halfway houses. In 2017, GEO group purchased the Alabama Therapeutic education facility for the Alabama Department of Corrections which set a two year contract for up to $18.8 million and they expect to enroll up to 600 people and provide training, drug treatment and resources for re-entry. Clearly, the treatment in private facilities are beyond different from public institutions. There are issues with the treatment, such as the immigrants that were paid in chips and chicken if they did well at their job. It is quite disgusting. It is almost like they feel they can get away with it in a sense, so why not treat prisoners like they do not matter to society? Cause if I were an inmate I would be horrified to be in a private institution. -notacop711
ReplyDeleteI found plenty of things in this article interesting and found some information I never knew!!
ReplyDelete1.Page 9:”In 2002, approximately 4,800 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees were held in privately run facilities.13 By 2017, that number had jumped to 26,249 people.14 This expansion of detention was influenced by a shift in immigration policy enforcement.”
2.Page:10 “In 2002, approximately 4,800 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees were held in privately run facilities.13 By 2017, that number had jumped to 26,249 people.14 This expansion of detention was influenced by a shift in immigration policy enforcement.”
3.Page12: “Since 2005, GEO Group and Core Civic have spent $2.2 billion to acquire smaller companies in order to branch out to new industries beyond incarceration. For instance, in 2011, GEO Group acquired BI Incorporated, an ankle bracelet monitoring company. The companies also provide prison healthcare services and have established residential reentry centers”.
4.Page16:”Today, Florida has eight privately-run prison facilities. The GEO Group has its headquarters in Boca Raton and runs five of the facilities. In addition to adult prisons, 95% of Florida’s juvenile facilities are privately owned.47 In 2012, Governor Rick Scott and the Florida State Senate narrowly failed to pass a bill to privatize all adult correctional facilities.48”
5.Page17: “Beginning in 1998, New Mexico opened two private prisons within two years, the Lea County Correctional Facility and the Guadalupe Correctional Center, both operated by Wackenhut Correctional Center (currently known as GEO Group). Both facilities experienced violent incidents within the first year of opening. By January of 1999, 12 prisoners had been stabbed in Wackenhut correctional facilities. By 2000, four prisoners and one correctional officer had been killed.51 Riots protesting Wackenhut’s poor management in the Guadalupe and Lea County correctional facilities erupted and involved over 100 prisoners.52”
6.Page18:”At the municipal level, New York City has engaged in a debate about the city’s pension holdings in private prison companies. In 2017, the city of New York divested a total of $48 million in stocks and bonds from a range of for-profit correctional companies, the first municipal government in the country to do so.64”
7.Page19:”In 2008 with the private prison population at its peak of 20,000 people, Texas lawmakers recognized that TDCJ had overbuilt its prison capacity. Privately operated county jails, which had been built with an expectation of housing overflow from state facilities, had half their beds empty by 2011.75 Crime and incarceration rates were falling, which led many lawmakers to suggest that TDCJ was spending too much on prison beds. Several prisons have closed in Texas since 2011, including private facilities.76 By 2016 the number of people in private prisons dropped to 13,692.”
8.“The federal government is the single largest user of private prisons in the United States but has reduced its population in private prisons in recent years. However, in 2017 Attorney General Jeff Sessions withdrew an Obama-era directive to phase out private prison contracting because of concern for the federal correctional system’s ability “to meet future needs.”5”
9.“Between 2000 and 2016, the number of people incarcerated in private prison facilities increased 47 percent while the overall prison population increased 9 percent. The private prison population reached a peak of 137,220 in 2012; it then declined to 126,272 in 2015, before rising again in 2016 to 128,063.6”
10.“Prison privatization has prospered because of claims that for-profit facilities are more cost efficient at providing services than publicly-run institutions. The evidence does not support this assertion. “ KenzieLand711
1. The federal government is the world's leading user of private prison, but the population numbers have been decreasing over the years. I find this interesting because I think private prisons can save states more money if we keep them around. But Attorney General Jeff Session is making a big push the phase private prisons out of the U.S.
ReplyDelete2. Private prison companies often hire low income and low skilled employees to do the jobs. I think that is absolutely wrong companies should not be hiring people off the streets that have little to none experiences in a prison setting. That could be potentially dangerous for the inmate and the employees. The companies also do not supply benefits or health care to any of these employees.
3. The biggest privately owned prison companies such as, Core Civic and GEO Group, manage over half of the private prison industry in the United States with combined revenues of $3.5 billion as of 2015. As I stated before if we keep these prison companies around, I think it could potentially save money for the state.
4. From the years 2000 to 2016, privately owned prisons populations rates have increased 47 percent. But the prison population at a whole has only increased 9 percent. So more convicted criminals are being put in privately owned institutions than public owned and state managed institutions. I just find that crazy that we have the facilities for the criminals but it doesn't seem like we are utilizing them.
5. 27 states in America utilize privately owned prison companies, and six stated have doubled their use of private prisons. So clearly we can see the trend that private prisons are popular for states to use.
6. “While both federal and state governments have increasingly relied on privatization since 2000, the federal prison system’s commitment to privatization grew more dramatically. The number of federal prisoners held in private prisons rose 120 percent from 15,524 in 2000 to 34,159 in 2016.”
7. Illegal immigrants that were detained by ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement), are held in privately owned institutions.
8. “In one GEO Group facility in Colorado, thousands of immigrant detainees were allegedly forced to work for $1 a day. Nine of those detainees filed a lawsuit against GEO Group claiming that they were paid for labor with “chicken, potato chips, soda, or candy.” That's obviously a problem, we cant put our prisoners into these privately owned institutions and abuse them and force them to work .
9. “According to ICE reports, arrests and detentions of immigrants have increased more than 40 percent since mid-2017. To accommodate the increases, President Trump’s 2018 proposed budget to Congress asked for $1.2 billion to add 15,000 more private prison beds for immigration detention.” Trump is funding for privately owned institutions, but Jeff Sessions is trying to get rid of them?
10. The last 40 years the U.S has seen a steady rise in increasement of prison populations, but now we are at a state where it is finally starting to cut off and lower.
-I-Like-Cereal711
1."Between 2000 and 2016, the number of people incarcerated in private prison facilities increased 47 percent while the overall prison population increased 9 percent."
ReplyDelete2."The number of federal prisoners held in private prisons rose 120 percent from 15,524 in 2000 to 34,159 in 2016, while the number of state prisoners incarcerated privately grew by 31 percent over the same time period, from 71,845 to 94,164."
3."Beginning in 2009, Congress established a quota for immigrant detention beds under appropriations law, requiring that the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) funding be linked to maintaining 33,400 immigration detention beds a day even if there were not a sufficient number of people in detention to fill them."
4."However, a report by the nonpartisan Policy Matters Ohio criticized the state’s measurements for comparing privately operated prisons to hypothetical public facilities, exaggerating overhead and staff costs for public prisons, and failing to account for the higher proportion of prisoners in public institutions requiring expensive high-level security."
5."Researchers also find that public facilities tend to be safer than their private counterparts and that “privately operated prisons appear to have systemic problems in maintaining secure facilities.”
6."When established in 1983, Corrections Corporation of America pledged to build and operate prisons with the same quality of service provided in publicly operated prisons but at a lower cost."
7."The United States has experienced 40 years of unprecedented growth in its prison population but a recent stabilization and modest reduction in incarceration has largely ended the prison building boom and now provides an opportunity to reexamine policies of prison privatization."
8."For many years Hawaii has flown prisoners thousands of miles to private prisons in Arizona. Other states that have adopted this practice include California and Idaho, which rely on for-profit prisons in Colorado, Oklahoma, and Mississippi."
9."However, in the 1990s, there was a massive expansion in New York’s correctional population, resulting in speculation that the state might contract with private facilities.62 In response, the corrections officer union began a campaign to lobby for a ban of for-profit prisons in the state."
10."By 2007, after an intensive lobbying effort by GEO Group, the Texas legislature passed a bill that expanded the number of people that private prisons could house at their facilities. This bill was sponsored by Rep. Jerry Madden, the head of the House Committee on Corrections, who was a proponent of privately-run prison facilities."
-ny711
The first thing I found interesting was that the United States has the world’s largest private prison population. Of the 1.5 million people in state and federal prisons in 2016, 8.5 percent, or 128,063, were incarcerated in private prisons. This isn't really that hard to believe sense we do lock up so many more people than any other country it would make sense that we also have the largest private prison information.
ReplyDeleteThe second thing I found interesting was companies often trim prison budgets by employing mostly non-union and low skilled workers at lower salaries and offer limited benefits compared to staff at publicly run institutions. I think that this is not a good thing it puts everyone at risk the workers and inmates if they aren't properly trained and if we limit the benefit and programs to the prisoners it's only making it harder for them to reenter society.
The third thing is that the largest private prison corporations, Core Civic and GEO Group, collectively manage over half of the private prison contracts in the United States with combined revenues of $3.5 billion as of 2015. If they are making that much money they will not want the prisoners to leave and reenter society.
The fourth thing is Between 2000 and 2016, the number of people incarcerated in private prison facilities increased 47 percent while the overall prison population increased 9 percent. This is not surprising considering the amount of money they are making of them.
The fifth thing is that the number of federal prisoners held in private prisons rose 120 percent from 15,524 in 2000 to 34,159 in 2016. This is shocking how much the number of prisoners is growing.
The sixth thing is in May 2017, the DOJ issued a new solicitation to increase capacity by 1,600 beds in privately-run Criminal Alien Requirement facilities intended for noncitizens charged with lower-level offenses, including drug and immigration offenses. So they are continuing looking for ways to keep growing in prison population.
The seventh thing I found interesting is that in 2002, approximately 4,800 Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees were held in privately run facilities.13 By 2017, that number had jumped to 26,249 people.
The eighth thing is that prison privatization has prospered because of claims that for-profit facilities are more cost efficient at providing services than publicly run institutions. The evidence does not support this assertion.
The ninth thing is the primary approach to controlling spending is by maintaining lower levels of staff benefits and salary than publicly run facilities. Labor costs normally account for 60 to 70 percent of annual operating budgets. This is crazy and like I said before dangerous.
The tenth thing that the GEO Group and Core Civic have spent $2.2 billion to acquire smaller companies in order to branch out to new industries beyond incarceration.
-pizza711
1. I find the rise of private prisons populations between 2000 and 2016 interesting but also extremely troubling. I’ve said before that I don’t think private companies have any right to profit off of prisoners.
ReplyDelete2. The fact that the claims being made about private prisons saving money are unfounded after decades of research. That’s the main argument for why you would ever want private prisons and apparently it isn’t even accurate. That’s surprising.
3. Private prison population grew 47 percent from 2000 2016 yet the prison population overall increased only 9 percent. I wonder if part of this is because we ended up needing private prisons because we already have a huge population or if it’s because of lobbying efforts or probably some sort of mixture of the two.
4. Arizona had a whopping 479.4 percent increase of prisoners in private prisons.
5. On page 9 the author points out that under President Obama’s Department of Justice we were working on phasing out private prisons due to an increased risk of safety concerns and flow of contraband into the prisons but apparently in this administrations department of justice that policy was reversed and we should expect to see more of them. Also apparently prosecutors are being told to pursue the highest charges and toughest sentences in federal crimes.
6. GEO Group, a private prison, allegedly forced immigrant detainees to work for $1 a day. And nine of the detainees sued GEO Group for paying them in chicken, chips, soda, or candy. These are people that are being held for civil offenses, not even criminal offenses and they are being forced to work for $1 a day and some maybe working just to get fed.
7. Corrections Officers employed by private prisons make on average $23,850 less than those working in the public run prisons. This to me isn’t surprising but illustrates perfectly how private prisons will try to nickel and dime everything, including important things like the actual Correctional Officers.
8. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a lobbying firm made up of a couple of private prisons companies that has pushed laws onto our legislators that include things like 3 strike laws, mandatory sentencing, truth-in sentencing laws, all of which strangely enough lead to higher prison populations.
9. GEO Group had a combined revenue of $3.5 billion in 2015. So I can imagine it’s going to be difficult to convince them that private prisons shouldn’t be a thing.
10. “Since 2005, GEO Group and Core Civic have spent $2.2 billion to acquire smaller companies in order to branch out to new industries beyond incarceration. For instance, in 2011, GEO Group acquired BI Incorporated, an ankle bracelet monitoring company. The companies also provide prison healthcare services and have established residential reentry centers” This is another troubling fact. It seems that these giant companies want to control basically all aspects of our corrections process. This is extremely uncomfortable to me as I find it hard to believe we could ever hold private companies accountable enough to ensure they are working for the public good rather than for their own profits.
Avatar711
One of the first things that I found interesting in this article is that in just 16 years the incarceration of people in private prison has increased by a staggering 47 percent. That is insane that our private prisons have nearly doubled in size in just a short amount of time. After its peak in 2012 with 137, 220 people in private prison, it had a decrease in its population in 2015, but shortly after the private prison population rose again in 2016. I find that interesting that the private population graph has declines in the it. I figured it to be a straight line heading up without any deviations. Out of the 27 states that use private prison beds the biggest jump was in Arizona. In that state they saw an increase of 479 percent more people be held in private prison compared to public from a time span between 2000 and 2016. Another statement in this article that surprised me was the increase in federal prisoners between 2000 and 2016. The increase in federal prisoners was 120 percent. In 2014 there was a change in the sentencing policy that decreased the number of people in private prisons. What doesn’t surprise me in this article is the jump of immigration detainees from 2002 to 2017. In that time span there was over a 20,000 more detainees, this was due to a change in immigration policy. Some of those detainees that were in Colorado were forced to work for a dollar a day. That is crazy to make a person work for just 1 dollar citizen or not. Nine of those detainees sued the GEO for being mandated to work for a dollar a day. Since mid-2017 the number of arrests and detentions of immigrants has increased by 40 percent. To deal with the problem President Trump proposed an increase of 15,000 more private beds to accommodate the increase. In the later part of 2017 ICE requested that a new immigration detention center to be built. This new facility would be located in South Texas and would be able to hold 1000 more immigrants. In 2009 a study was preformed by researchers from the University of Utah. They researched if private prisons are more cost efficient than publicly owned prisons. There findings showed that there was not a guaranteed that a private prison are more cost efficient that public ones. Studies did show that in private prisons assaults are twice as likely to happen than in a public prison. -ClarkKent711
ReplyDelete1.) It does not surprise me that the United States has the world’s largest private prison population knowing that we are already known as the country who locks people up the most out of any other country.
ReplyDelete2.) I wonder why 73 percent of all people in immigration detention were confined in privately-run facilities on a daily basis. It makes me think that our government saw this as the best way to separate and hold control on illegal immigration but honestly what would be the difference in holding them in a private prison versus a regular prison
3.) Out of the 50 states, 8 have decided to get rid of the use of private prisons bases on cost cutting. This simply shows how much we can't afford to incarcerate as many people as we do, especially for small petty things that take up time, space and money just to keep criminals who have done petty small crimes behind bars.
4.) “Arizona had the largest increase, holding 479 percent more people in private prisons in 2016 than in 2000, followed by Indiana , Ohio , Florida , Georgia , and Tennessee” Due to this text not fully explaining why these states are so overly populated with people in private prisons, this is something I’d like to talk about in class
5.) After reading about the private immigration facility, what it makes out to me to be is unfair conduct done by the government just because they know they have power over everything in that facility. It is said that In one GEO Group facility in Colorado, thousands of immigrant detainees were allegedly forced to work for $1 a day which nine of the detainees filed a lawsuit against the GEO Group.
6.) I’m glad that after the lawsuit the unfair act of paying $1 a day changed to the average minimum wage of $11 an hour in Colorado.
7.) Private prison companies face a challenge in reducing costs and offering services necessary to maintaining safety in prisons
8.) Corrections officers employed by private corporations earn up to $23,850 less on average in annual salary compared to the public sector. If it is so popular than what would be the reason why employees there get payed less elsewhere.
9.) Corrections Corporation of America pledged to build and operate prisons with the same quality of service provided in publicly operated prisons but at a lower cost.
10.) “Political influence has been instrumental in determining the growth of for-profit private prisons and continues today”
Redbird711
I clearly will go to thanking Illinois for not having a private prison. You can obviously see the difference in size of populations in prisons rising. With the prison capacity rising the prices rise also and I do believe personally that with the current state of the country or i could go more specific and go into detail about how Illinois is even in a bad state of debt and money crisis. I’m also amazed by the large increase of population concerning private prisons. I just don't understand how someone just wakes up and decides to start a private prison. Are the laws the same for the prison? Are the living conditions the same? As my knowledge is very small other than reading this article about private prisons since I have lived in illinois my whole life I do not think the rising population in prisons is healthy for our country. How has the prison population increased 47% over 16 years? That is a huge gain in 16 years. Personally i think we should have less strict rules that are judges have to abide by. But i also don't like that there are also a lot of bias judges that will bring the incorrect amount of time on a person just because they don't feel like their time is being used correctly. As goes the other way some judges will drop charges just to make the time go by faster and make it so they don't have to actually charge anyone of a crime based on the bias they might get in return to their choice. Onto Immigration Detention centers, the population has increased 442% from 4,481 people to 26,249. That number does prove that we have a problem with immigrants in our country and it is showing the work our county is increasing in effectiveness but it still proves there is a large issue with the immigration numbers rising and being troubling to fix. Not trying to start a bad conversation with the whole “ICE” mishaps that are happening but I do think that our states are getting somewhere with trying to control and fix the Illegal immigration statistics but i do think they need to work in a different way than possible like how most people who come over from other countries should do some time but if they don't need to be taken out of this country. I believe we can find other ways to fix the problems we have with our prisons and detentions. -MyHandle711
ReplyDelete1. The result of the war on drugs created mandatory minimum sentences. Which made prisons increases rapidly and over populated.
ReplyDelete2. I found it interesting how approximately 4,800 immigration and customs workers were held in privately run places back in 2002. When 2017 rolled around the number increased to 26,249 people.
3. A reduction in the overall federal prison population that begin in 2014 resulted from changes in sentencing policy and influenced a modest decline in private prison use in 2016.
4. In order to overcome theses challenges, private prison companies at times have joint with lawmakers, corporation and interest groups to advocate for privatization through the American legislative exchange council. This organization is a non profit membership association focused on advancing the jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism an individual liberty.
5. When established in 1983, corrections corporation of America pledged to build and operate prisons with the same quality of service provided in publicly operated prisons but at a lower cost.core civic maintains more than 80,000 beds in over 70 facilities, including prisons, immigrant detentions, and reentry centers.
6. The United States has experienced 40 years of unprecedented growth in its prison population but a recent stabilization and modest reduction in incarceration has largely ended the prison building boom and now provides and opportunity to reexamine policies of prison privatization.
7. Since 2005, GEO group and core civic have spent $2.2 billion to acquire smaller companies in order to branch out to new industries beyond incarceration.
8.private prison companies face a challenge in reducing costs and offering services necessary to maintaining safety in prisons while also generating a profit for shareholders.
9. To accommodate the increases, present trump’s 2018 proposed budget to congress asked for $1.2 billion to add 15,000 more private prison beds for immigration detention. In September 2017 ICE requested that a new immigrant dentition center be constructed in south Texas, stating that it would need to hold approximately 1,000 more migrants.
10.in 2009, congress established a quota for immigrant detention beds under appropriations laws requiring that the department of homeland security’s funding be linked to maintaining 33,400 immigration detention beds a ay even if there were not a sufficient number of people in detention to fill them.
I also find it interesting how there is some states that have 0 number of people incarcerated in private prisons considering the fact I thought prisons were always over populated.
-jollyrancher711
The ten things that caught my eye the most reading this article are.
ReplyDelete1) Companies often trim prison budgets by employing mostly non-union and low skilled workers at lower salaries and offer limited benefits compared to staff at publicly run institutions.
2) February 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the reversal of this plan, indicating that the Bureau of Prisons would continue to rely on these facilities. Sessions stated that private prison companies would assist in meeting “the future needs of the federal correctional system.”
3) The Department of Homeland Security’s bed quota for immigrant detention requires the agency to maintain no less than 34,000 beds at any given time. Because of this quota, Immigration and Customs Enforcement expanded its contracts with private prison companies to house federal immigrant detainees.
4) According to ICE reports, arrests and detentions of immigrants have increased more than 40 percent since mid-2017.
5) Beginning in 1998, New Mexico opened two private prisons within two years, the Lea County Correctional Facility and the Guadalupe Correctional Center, both operated by Wackenhut Correctional Center (currently known as GEO Group). Both facilities experienced violent incidents within the first year of opening. By January of 1999, 12 prisoners had been stabbed in Wackenhut correctional facilities. By 2000, four prisoners and one correctional officer had been killed.
6) States such as North Carolina have demonstrated that it is possible for governments to discontinue their reliance on for-profit prisons.
7) Since 2005, GEO Group and Core Civic have spent $2.2 billion to acquire smaller companies in order to branch out to new industries beyond incarceration.
8) In 2016, following the Department of Justice’s announcement that it would phase out private prisons, stock prices dropped 50 percent.
9) In order to overcome these challenges, private prison companies at times have joined with lawmakers, corporations, and interest groups to advocate for privatization through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
10) Corrections officers employed by private corporations earn up to $23,850 less on average in annual salary compared to the public sector. Oliver Hart, the 2016 winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, contends that for-profit prison contracts lack sufficient incentives for proper job training. Consequently, there are higher employee turnover rates in private prisons than in publicly operated facilities.
-Rollforinitiative711