Against Privatization of Prisons
The main argument against the privatization of prisons is that the profit motive of these private organizations will overlook the needs of the inmates and will lead to horrible living conditions and the stripping of the inmate’s human rights.” Sir Nigel Rodley, former United Nations Special Rapporteuron Torture, explains that “the profit motive of privately operated prisons … has fostered a situation in which the rights and needs of prisoners and the direct responsibility of states for the treatment of those they deprive of freedom are diminished in the name of greater efficiency; where the safe and fair treatment of prisoners is compromised by private corporate goals.”( ) The private company’s goals will always outweigh the prisoner’s security and well-being. Another critic of privatizing prisons is that these companies are not reducing the problems in which they were created to solve. “Critics argue that as a matter of policy it is inappropriate to operate prisons with a profit motive, which provides no incentive to reduce overcrowding (especially if the company is paid on a per prisoner basis), to consider alternatives to incarceration, or to deal with the broader problems of criminal justice.”( ) Privatizing prison’s is not the solution to overcrowdings in prisons because these private companies are making money per prisoner so overcrowding their prisons would be beneficial for them. Another major flaw in privatizing prisons is that they don’t focus on rehabilitating their prisoners because it’s to their benefit if prisoners serve their time but end up in prison again. “Prisons have a responsibility to provide prisoners with suitable rehabilitation programs. Programs for prisoners, such as substance-abuse treatment, education, and job training, however, tend to be limited in private correctional facilities. Private prisons have a double disincentive to aid in the rehabilitation of their charges: by skimping on programs they save money immediately and, by letting prisoners serve out their terms without access to proper rehabilitation programs, they increase the likelihood that those prisoners will become “repeat customers.”( ) These private prisons are not solving any problems, instead they are creating more problems.