NCJ Number
121527
Date Published
1989
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This analysis of the nature of privatization of prisons advocated in Great Britain and of the politics involved challenges the assertion that privatization can insulate the penal system from penal pressures and concludes that it might increase such pressures and encourage the development of new issues and concerns.
Abstract
Strong support for privatization in Britain has come from the political right, where advocates mostly agree that the prison crisis is caused by a lack of prison space and argue that privatization will provide better buildings faster. Advocates also point to the United States experience for support for privatization. However, the two nations differ considerably in the structure and financing of prisons and in their legal and constitutional backgrounds. In addition, critics of privatization argue that in private prisons financial considerations would take precedence in the decisionmaking process, that private prisons would be run with a minimum of human contact and a maximum of technology, and that privatization would create a powerful lobby with a vested interest in a high prison population. In addition, the debate about privatization of prisons may force the British Labor Party to confront the neglected issues of accountability of the prison system, the justification for the prison construction program, and the position of prison officers as workers. Notes and 50 references.