Pros And Cons Of Private Prisons In The United States

Privatized prisons and jails have been around for a long time; they existed during the pre-civil war and American colonies era of the United States. However, in the early to mid-1980s, the industry of private prisons was rejuvenated in the U.S. to try to boost third parties to manage the facility for less cost but with better results. In this generation, several industries and corporations—powerful ones to be exact—are running the business of private prisons and jails for many reasons including taking in big amounts of profits. Texas is the state with the most private prisons and is home to around 30 facilities—double of what California has. The American Penal system before was operated under a foundation of putting in treacherous criminals to make the people feel protected and at ease knowing they were under lock and key. But with private prisons becoming more of a profit-making business, …show more content…
One of them includes that “They can help the government save time, effort and money” (ConnectUS, 2015). Operating prisons can be time-consuming, require lots of labor and can be very costly. Therefore this reason is what leads the government to add in third-parties to fully or partially manage a prison or more. This is an essential plan for the government because the costs will decrease rapidly due to the narrowing the employee’s assets such as-- overtime pay, any kind of medical coverage, and bonuses. Another advantage is that they lessen the chance of overpopulation and keeping them “...at the right level” (ConnectUS, 2015). Overpopulation is a big problem that every single prison or most of them have, especially in the state of Texas. Every day more and more people are being incarcerated being put into a single room with five other guys when in reality only two or three the most should be in each