NCJ Number
99943
Journal
Across the Board Volume: 21 Issue: 3 Dated: (March 1984) Pages: 20-27
Date Published
1984
Length
8 pages
Annotation
A description of the use of private corporations to run correctional facilities focuses on the contrasting programs at the juvenile training school at Weaversville, Penn., and the Florida School for Boys in Okeechobee.
Abstract
Although private and usually nonprofit organizations have run halfway houses and other community programs since the 1970's, the entry of profit-making corporations in major roles is more recent. The development of private prisons is largely a result of prison overcrowding and the pressures to deal with it. Companies are currently negotiating with about a dozen State and local governments, and private prisons could become a major industry. Concern exists regarding whether this approach will improve corrections. However, corporate wardens say that with modern management techniques they can build institutions faster and run them more cheaply than government can. The Weaversville facility is run by the RCA Company. With funding of $40,000 per year per inmate, an inmate population of 20 at a time, and a progressive correctional context, it has drawn favorable comments. In contrast, the Florida School for Boys, turned over to the Jack and Ruth Eckerd Foundation in 1982, receives less than half as much per inmate, has a population of 400, and reflects Florida's outdated and harsh policies toward delinquents. The American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of other groups are suing it and two other Florida training schools run by the State for cruel and abusive conditions. regarding whether the entry of private industry will improve corrections or will result in service cutbacks. Descriptions of recent Federal contracts for private prisons are included.