Criminologists Selman and Leighton (both, Eastern Michigan Univ.) focus upon the role of private prisons in'America's incarceration binge.' Applying an analytical framework that comes out of critical criminology, the authors systematically explore the Reagan era origins of the increasing shift to the privatization of corrections, the key factors contributingto its expansion, and the consequences. Although some criminologists believe that the high level of incarceration has contributed to the declining conventional crime rate since the early 1990s, other criminologists have documented some of the harmful consequences of this trend. $45MILLION: The amount of money that has been spent by the three largest private prison companies (Corrections Corporation of America, The GEO Group, and Management and Training Corp.) on campaign donations and lobbying at the state and federal level over the last decadeġ30: The estimated number of private prisons in the USġ31,000+: The number of inmates housed by private prison facilities in the US in 2014ĩ0%: The growth rate in the private prison population since 1999ĥ0%: The estimated percentage of immigrants detained by the federal government who are housed in private prisonsħ: The number of states that housed at least 20% of their inmate populations in private prison facilities in 2014ĩ0%: The most frequent occupancy guarantee requirement (a quota for how many prisoners must be in the facility at any given time) that private prisons demand.The dramatic growth of the US prison population in recent times has been an especially noteworthy-and troublesome-development within the criminal justice system. $3.3BILLION: The combined 2014 revenue of the two largest private prison companies in the US Mass incarceration seemingly harms all but one group - the private prison industry. Many are calling this a moral and economic failure. However, prisons operating as for-profit businesses, where revenue is directly tied to increased occupancy, has created a stakeholder with significant political influence that also has a monetary interest in preventing reduced sentencing or efforts to reduce incarceration rates. The private prison system was established with the express goal of minimizing government costs. Today, state expenditures on corrections cost taxpayers an estimated $50 billion annually. While crime rates in the US continue to fall steadily, acutely high rates of imprisonment, particularly among nonviolent offenders, are leading policymakers and experts to question whether the cost of incarceration exceeds the social benefits. THE COST OF INCARCERATIONĬrime and high rates of incarceration impose tremendous costs on society, with lasting negative effects on individuals, families, and communities. Now the three largest private companies are responsible for 6 percent of state prisoners and 16 percent of federal prisoners, with the two largest private prison companies (CCA and the GEO Group) raking in over $3 billion in revenue in 2014. The Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) established itself in 1984, and that same year, the federal government first contracted out the entire operation of a prison in Hamilton County, Tennessee, to CCA. Private business interests saw an opportunity for expansion, and the private sector’s involvement in the prison system grew from a simple contracting relationship to complete ownership, operation, and management of private prisons. In the early 1980s, federal correctional facilities began to be unable to accommodate the growing number of inmates. In comparison, by 2004, people convicted on federal drug offenses were expected to serve almost three times that length: 62 months in prison, on average. In 1986, people released after serving time for a federal drug offense had spent an average of 22 months in prison. With the implementation of mandatory minimums stemming from the crackdown on drug offenses in the 1980s, the country’s prison population soared. Since then, the US has seen a sharp upward trend, with prison population numbers growing to more than 1.5 million by 2014. Less than 50 years ago, in 1970, the state and federal prison population was less than 280,000. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the US prison population remained steady. This growth is a reflection of the evolution of the philosophy and practice in our justice system that skews heavily towards imprisonment, where punishment and isolation take precedent over reformation, and a single sentence can mean a lifetime of disenfranchisement. In the last 30 years, the number of inmates serving life sentences in the US has more than quadrupled. The United States has built a criminal justice system that relies heavily on incarceration.
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