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New Report : How Private Prisons "Game the System"

By Jeralyn, Section Inmates and Prisons
Posted on Wed Jun 22, 2011 at 08:58:04 AM EST
Tags: private prisons (all tags)
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The Justice Policy Institute has released a new report on how private prisons game the system, creating a perceived need for their services. How they do it: Lots of money spent on lobbying and campaign contributions.

You can read the full report here. The upshot:

“Research has shown that private prisons do not save taxpayer dollars and can in fact cost taxpayers more than public prisons. Additionally, privatizing prisons may undermine cost effective sentencing reforms and increase recidivism rates. Despite these well­-documented concerns, private prison companies continue to promote policies that put money in their pockets and people behind bars.”

What would be better than private prisons? [More...]

  • Reducing the number of people entering the justice system, and the amount of time that they spend there (Lowering the prison populations could render private, for-profit prisons unnecessary and "improve public safety and the lives of individuals."
  • Invest in front-end treatment and services in the community, whether private or public.

One more quote:

Taxpayers lose when their money is used to generate profits for shareholders and to promote policies that increase incarceration; communities lose when policies proven to be ineffective for public safety are pushed through state legislatures, and people involved in the criminal justice system lose when they are locked up in underfunded and sometimes unsafe facilities.”

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