NCJ Number
100188
Journal
Prison Journal Volume: 65 Issue: 2 Dated: (Autumn-Winter 1985) Pages: 42-47
Date Published
1985
Length
6 pages
Annotation
A corporate executive presents arguments in favor of private corrections and describes a program his company has designed to improve services to inmates currently placed in protective custody.
Abstract
The current correctional system faces problems of overcrowding, inadequate services and facilities, and restricted funding. The private sector is now handling many elements of correctional services. The logical next step is to provide private correctional programming for inmates with special needs. They currently receive the least benefit from the correctional system and cost the most to incarcerate. This group includes death row inmates, physically handicapped inmates, and inmates in protective custody. The protective custody inmates constitute 7 percent of the prison population and use high security cells needed for unmanageable inmates. Buckingham Security has designed a program that would improve services to these inmates at a lower cost. Its proposed private protective custody facilities would provide inmates with a fully programmed day, employment, and the opportunity to develop stable habits that would be useful after release. Numerous administrative and political problems exist, but such a system should be tried. It is time to find out whether the profit motive and private corrections can really work.