The Pros And Cons Of Private Prisons

Rationality and self-interest are often measured relative to efficiency. However, this is not the only aspect that should commend the acceptability of a business sector’s technique of increasing profits and reducing cost. The privatization of prisons or involvement in state prisons by companies that gain from the forced labor of prisoners advanced by high numbers, low wage and extremely long sentences is one system that brings strong moral questions to mind. Prisoners acquiring jobs in jail, no matter how insufficient the compensation, may be deemed positive. However, when corporations own prisons or get extensively involved for this purpose and it is apparent that a large amounts of vulnerable groups of people get sentences that are not equivalent to the crime committed, the ethical as well as economic effects must be considered. This problem required even more attention in consideration to the fact that large amount of tax money gets spent on prisons due to the epidemic. The United States incarcerates more of its citizens than any other country in the world. “United States holds 25% of the world’s prison population, but only 5% of the world’s people. From less …show more content…
The two largest private prison companies are Correctional Corporation of America (CCA) and Wackenhut. Together they control 75% of private prisons.While it helps that this is mainly a duopoly system and not such industry with free entry and exit, it is still highly acquirable and extreme profit generating for any large company. In private prisons, inmates receive as little as 17 cents per hour for a maximum of six hours of labor a day. The highest paying private prison is CCA. Prisoners receive 50 cents per hour for what they call “highly skilled positions.” Compared in context, inmates find the pay in federal prisons to be great. Inmates can earn $1.25 an hour and work eight hours a day, and sometimes overtime, in federal