What is the role and purpose of privatization?

Question

What is the role and purpose of privatization? Why is it so important to the prisons today? Why don't we just keep it state and federal ran and cut costs that way?

Answer 1

WHAT?

Answer 2

Hello KW. The concept behind privitization is to control and lower costs. This was an idea that by granting private security companies the license to run a state owned prison, they would be able to control costs better than if the state continued to supervise.

In Ohio, we now have two privitized prisons. The contractural agreement is that they are to run at 5% below the normal figures of the other 30 prisons in this state based on population of the institution.

I can tell you that it has failed miserably on all levels of expectation. First, they are HIGHLY selective of the inmates they will allow to be brought to them.They will accept no one with any known health issues. Also, they will not maintain a segregation unit. If any inmate poses a security risk or has a fight, he is immediately returned to one of the other prisons.

The level of security is severely lacking in both.Their staff is paid less with less benefits that the state run counterparts and as such, the hiring process is poor. (You get what you pay for).

Even with the restrictions that the private prisons have placed, their costs still run just as high as their counterparts.  To this date, there has not been any savings in actual costs.

If it helps to understand the complete picture here, the single biggest cost expense of running a prison is medical. Our budget runs a full 1/3 for medical expenses (which equates to approx. $500,000 per month). When a person is incarcerated, they still are entitled by law to the same medical care as anyone on the street.

The consequences of the private prisons not accepting medical problems is that once a person has been accepted into their unit and a medical problem arises, they ship him back. While waiting to be returned by administrative transfer, his medical problem is either ignored or he gets a low cost placebo. Numerous law suits have been filed for neglect of medical care due to this.

The long term effect of these private prisons is that the state is being sued for lack of medical care and is going to lose millions of dollars in the long run when these law suits run their course through the courts and the private prisons lose the cases.

I fully understand ( more than most others) that prisons are a necessary evil, but we still maintain a legal necessity to provide care while incarcerated and this care must be paid for by our own tax dollars.

I hope this helps you and you can find it useful