NCJ Number
159879
Date Published
1991
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This article argues that private companies can effectively and justly assume the imprisonment function usually carried out by government.
Abstract
As long as private prisons remain accountable to the public and subject to State and Federal regulation, they may be able to provide correctional services more efficiently than public prisons. Some of the issues discussed here with regard to prison privatization relate to the source and delegation of authority to imprison, legitimation of that authority, the due process rights of inmates, the role of the profit motive in corrections management, and the benefits of competition among prisons.