NCJ Number
98580
Date Published
1985
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This video examines -- through interviews with administrators, guards, researchers, businessmen, and inmates -- the interlocking issues surrounding private sector involvement in managing and supporting jails and prisons.
Abstract
The privatization issue is currently attracting national attention as States and cities struggle to improve jail and prison services and reduce crowding in spite of limited financial resources. Four major areas of private sector involvement with corrections are discussed: increased contracting for services (such as food service or medical care), new methods of financing facility construction (such as 'lease-backs'), the growth and prospects of prison industries (including 'high-tech' as well as traditional forms of prison labor), and the pros and cons of total facility management by the private sector. The videotape suggests that the private sector is already deeply involved in the corrections field; the national debate concerns the extent and direction of further involvement. Most interviewees express cautious optimism about the impact of the private sector on jails and prisons in the near future, but one administrator notes that total facility management is the least likely form of involvement.