The Relative efficiency and effectiveness of private vs. public adult prisons

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

4-2005

Publication Title

47th Annual Conference of the Western Social Science Association

Abstract

In recent years the privatization of corrections movement has accelerated. From 1995 to 2000, the number of private adult prisons increased from roughly two dozen to more one-hundred. Today, privately operated prisons hold more than 95,000 state and federal inmates, roughly 7 percent of the total inmate population in the United States. Fueling this trend is the belief that private competitive markets can reduce the costs of incarceration, all the while complying with constitutionally mandated standards of inmate care and custody. However, research comparing the efficiency and effectiveness of private and public prisons has produced mixed results. This study attempts to provide additional insights into the privatization debate. Bivariate and multivariate analyses are used to assess the relative effectiveness of private prisons in maintaining institutional order and providing inmate programming. This study will also explore shifts in the relative performance of private prisons over time.

Keywords

Corrections – Contracting out; Prison industries; Prison violence; Prisons – Finance; Prisons – Law and legislation; Prisons – Privatization

Disciplines

Law Enforcement and Corrections | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration

Language

English

Comments

Conference held in Alburuerque, New Mexico from April 13-16, 2005.

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or use interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the article. Publisher copyright policy allows author to archive post-print (author’s final manuscript). When post-print is available or publisher policy changes, the article will be deposited


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