The United States of America

The United States of America

The United States of America has a total of 1.6million inmates, and the number is increasing over time. Out of these prisoners, 8% are in private prisons, while the other 92% are in public prisons. This indicates that there are two types of prisons. The first prison to become privatized was in the 1800s. This was a result of the over congestion that took place during the era of the war on drugs. The overpopulation led to the public prisons cutting down on services such as inmate transportation, medical care, food services, and vocational training. The private prisons saw an opportunity and utilized it, offering these services, in addition to many others. Private prisons are confinement facilities that are owned and operated by a third party and are also contracted by the local, state, and federal government. These prisons operate under their set standards, and they can accept or deny an offender. They receive their monetary aid from government contracts based on the number of inmates and their length of jail time. I this case, the more prisoners a private prison has, the more the money earned.

Public prisons, on the other hand, are owned and operated by the local and federal governments. The government is in control of who is sent in these confinement centers, and the standards are set by the government as well. Al the operations of the public prisons are governed and funded by the government. The funding is a result of taxes. The answer to the public so as to demonstrate the utilization of the citizen’s taxes.

Each of these two types of prisons confines individuals who have violated the law in one way or another. However, they vary on how they are funded, operated, rehabilitation services offered, type of inmates housed, security guaranteed. Consequently, money differentiates these two confinement centers.

When it comes to the matters of security, one would think that the private centers are more secure compared to the public prisons. However, research indicates that private prisons are less safe compared to the free ones. The individual centers have 49% more cases of violence and assault compared to the public jails. In addition, 65% is the estimates cases of inmate assaults compared to federal prisons. The reason for more violence in private sectors is because of the type of offenders confined. Since the private sectors take in less violent criminals, little security is given the aim of taking in less intense and less dangerous criminals is so as to improve on safety in the private jails. For instance, the East Mississippi correctional facility had an incident whereby inmates assaulted each other for almost 30 minutes before the correctional officers came around to help. Williams, 2018, reports that in addition to this, a mentally ill prisoner on suicide watch handed himself, prisoners walk along during lockdown periods, and some of the inmates that had medical emergencies were ignored, and they set fire in their cells. This demonstrates how insecure these facilities are. However, public prisons are different. They take issues of security a priority, as a nature of the dangerous and severe offenders, the house.  Statistics show that in a public prison, 330 individuals get involved in violence in 1000 prisoners. In private sectors, this number rises to 486 assaults in 1000.  In addition, federal prisons have more wardens compared to the secret jails. Thus security is more concentrated upon from public prisons.

Another area of comparison is on the differences I isolation between the private and public prisons. Separation is also known as solitary confinement. This is when an offender is housed privately from the other inmates because they are a danger to the others or themselves. It is mainly a form of punishment. The public prisons are required by the government to give the number of inmates they put In isolation. The private sector, on the other hand, does not disclose any information about their separation to the public, making it challenging to know the exact number of prisoners isolated. For instance, Louisiana’s Allen correctional center that is run by the GEO was under a lawsuit in 2017 to produce their records pertaining to the isolation of inmates. Due to the lack of publicity, the private sectors use these forms of punishment brutally on inmates, and since there are no public records, no action can be taken against them. The public sector, on the other hand, due to public demand, is looking for alternative ways to execute punishment other than solitary, as it affects the mental health of the inmates.

The United States of America has a total of 1.6million inmates, and the number is increasing over time. Out of these prisoners, 8% are in private prisons, while the other 92% are in public prisons. The first prison to become privatized was in the 1800s. This was a result of the over congestion that took place during the era of the war on drugs. The overpopulation led to the public prisons cutting down on services such as inmate transportation, medical care, food services, and vocational training. The private prisons saw an opportunity and utilized it, offering these services, in addition to many others. This was the way of the government to provide a cost-effective solution so as to help in managing the budget, overpopulation through privatization of some prisons. According to research in 1992, an analysis was conducted in three prisons, and the results indicated that the private sector performed better in terms of quality providence compared to the other two public jails. A recent study, however, suggests that both the public and the private facilities operate on equal quality. Researchers, using the 200o census of federal and state correctional facilities, report that the public jails have a high involvement of offenders in educational activities, medical treatment, and work programs. However, the private sectors had fewer cases of overcrowding. As mentioned before, the public areas receive their funding from the government, making innovations and renovations a challenge due to the limited funds. In this effect, little can be done for issues of overcrowding until the government intervenes. The offenders, therefore, have no choice but to take up the operations of the facility.

The private jails, on the other hand, are financially stable since the third party finances them. They are, therefore, able to make changes, renovations, and innovations that limit challenges if overcrowding. In addition to this, private prisons decide who takes in and who not to, making them able to control their population, resources, and funds. This is opposite to public sectors, who take in any offender, leading to overpopulation. Private prisons are cozy and comfortable compared to federal confinement centers. The private facilities construct their facilities. Secret jails, therefore, can regulate the number of prisoners who came into the facility, that match their resources. The Arizona Satiate prison in Kingman only accommodates 3500 prisoners; the Davis correctional facility only has a 1600 capacity same to the prairie correctional facility in Minnesota. These operations help I directing the private prisons on how to manage their capabilities and improve their confinement quality.

Both the public and private prisons are facilities where offenders are kept so as to make society safe for the people. Research, however, indicates that both of these prisons have their pros and cons; for instance, the private sector is known for its high staff turnover, a lot of violence, and less work. The public area of confinement facilities, on the other hand, is known for its overcrowding, negligence, and immorality since they make money for the corporation that owns the prisons and thus incentivizes imprisonment through monetization. The United States is one of the countries in the world, with a significant number of inmates in the world. The citizens of the country pay $250 annually to help in funding the public confinement centers that help in staffing, maintenance, and welfare. In this case, the two forms of prisons run differently since they have different management. However, each of the structures has its advantages and disadvantages. In order to better the two facilities, criminal justice needs to be reformed.