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Private Prisons

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“A Private Prison or for-profit prison is a place in which individuals are physically confined or interned by a third party that is contracted by a government agency”

A private prison corporation is contracted by the state to manage prisons for their own profit. Privatization of prisons began in 1980s under Ronald Reagan due to the rapid increase in prison population because of war on drugs.
United States is home to five percent of the world’s population with 25 but holds 25 percent of world’s prisoners. U.S holds the highest youth incarceration rate in the world, over 130,000 juveniles detained in the U.S every year and around 70,000 everyday in detention over minor offenses. Between 1990 and 2009 number of people in private prisons increased …show more content…
In 2012 CCA send a letter to all the state governors offering to buy all their public prison on a 20 years contract. Requiring 90-95 percent bed occupancy full or the state would be required to pay a fine for the beds not in use from the taxpayer’s money. Fortunately no state took CCA’s offer but CCA still has contract for around 20 percent of prison nationwide. Texas Senator’s response to CCA was rather straight forward “You Don’t want a prison system operating with the goal of maximizing profits…the only thing worse is that this seeks to take advantage of some state’s troubled financial position.”
These contracts incentivizes keeping prisons full and harshening the sentences to not be charged extra for the empty beds by the corporations. This puts people in prison for minor crime like possession of marijuana or other drugs related charges rather than getting them help through rehabilitation facilities. Corporations shouldn’t be allowed to destroy people’s life for their own personal gain. Prisons shouldn’t be a source of income for the corporation but a way to improve the society by keeping dangerous criminals off the

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