O/R wants to know (Jails run by private companies)

**Reca** · 12-18-10, 01:22 PM

O/R wants to know: what do you think the effects of jails being run by private companies will be?

**McCrackhd** · 12-18-10, 01:51 PM

I think it depends. Is the company running said jail willing to pay for good training and quality employees? Or are they gonna go for minimum training and cheap employees? If it's the latter, then I believe there will be some serious repercussions. If the former, I don't think that there will be too many major problems. The biggest test would be when something controversial occurs at the jail, ie: an in custody death, or prisoner abuse, etc. How does the city, county, or state respond?

**keith720** · 12-18-10, 03:05 PM

The problem with some of the private prisons or jails are that they don't necessarily fall under the same laws as state or county facilities. I recall a situation a few years back when an individual or 2 escaped from a private prison, and they couldn't be charged with escape, because there is no law about leaving a private company.

**StoleIt** · 12-18-10, 03:28 PM

Isn't this how Death Race and Gamer movies start out?

**213th** · 12-18-10, 05:09 PM

I don't think it is a good idea. Generally speaking, I am for increasing private sector jobs. However, I think that a private sector jail is going to focus on one thing, profits. I perceive this being a problem as I fear that in an effort to increase profits, the pay, benefits and training of the employees will suffer. This will lead to attracting less qualified people, which in turn will lead to a lower level of professionalism. I also fear that the selection process will be less stringent and will lead to lower quality employees. I also think that the facilities themselves may not meet the same standards as gov't facilities, leading to less security and potentially bigger problems between inmates. I also wonder what authority they would really have over people. I may be wrong but I think that there is some sort of legal system in place at gov't jails which can administer punishment (ad seg ect) when necessary. Would the private sector jobs have the same authority? Also I wonder if the rehabilitation part would suffer. While I know that some people are incorrigible, I know people who have benefitted from learning programs etc that have been offered at the jail.

**iso607** · 12-18-10, 08:52 PM

I worked in one years ago before getting hired by my first police agency. After being hired by the prison, I attended a 6 week "Training Academy" and had 2 weeks of OJT before being allowed to work alone. The prison housed up to 1538, maximum security Louisiana DOC inmates. It was not a La DOC prison, but was DOC mandated. Quarterly inspections were done by the La DOC to insure that the prison was up to thier standards. All DOC rules applied to the inmates that were housed there. If they violated the rules they were "written up" on official DOC "pink papers". We were not paid by the sate and did not get the same Insurance or retirement as those who worked in DOC prisions but our pay and insurance were compairable to those that did. For the most part this prison ran as smoothly as could be expected. I was employed there for a little over 4 years. Shortly after I left, the company I worked for sold out to another and is still ran by that company. The whole time the prison has been operational, received its first inmates on 12-4-90, it has been privately ran.

**HudsonHawk** · 12-19-10, 12:22 AM

I have doubts about the equipment and training a private company would use. My initial thoughts are that they would cut corners to make a profit.

I can't say that anything different would have happened if CO's were involved, but here's a recent incident involving an escapee from a private transport. The suspect was killed in a shootout with police, and luckily no one else was hurt. http://www.journal-news.net/page/con...id/549681.html

**Ducky** · 12-19-10, 10:18 AM

If it's run the same way that private policing (AKA, security companies) are run, then I will just shudder and look away while the place falls to hell. Substandard employees, substandard training, cost cutting in all the wrong places, and an air of "screw it" so strong that any decent employees who might happen to have gotten in will be driven off in short order.

**Jks9199** · 12-19-10, 10:47 AM

There are better private security companies... and lots of worse. Sometimes within the same parent organization. For example, one that I'm familiar with is highly professional in it's executive protection and incident response security (strike breaking security, etc.) teams... but merely average in it's regular guard force. There are a few very professional guard companies.

Private jails need to be closely monitored and supervised, both to protect society and to protect prisoners. They probably should be run by not-for-profit companies, because the whole profit motive kind of worries me. (These are weird businesses, like Mitre Corp, that often provide service to government...) I see them as being a likely development if we want to fight the bloat in our government.

**keith720** · 12-19-10, 03:36 PM

We had a new joint open in Wisconsin a few years back and I was sent their to train some of their Capts. and Lts. They had privatized the food services and the medical services. I can honestly say that the food was absolutely horrible as was the infirmary. Everything that could be done to cut cost and increase profit for the providers was done at the expense of staff and inmates. When profit is involved, professionalism goes out the window.