Private prisons have no place in a democratic society. Profiting from the incarceration of human beings compromises public safety and corrupts justice. Private companies only goal is to produce a profit. They achieve this goal by treating inmates as less than humans, completely disregarding their needs as human beings and denying them the opportunity to rehabilitate. This lack of rehabilitation increases the odds of inmates becoming repeat offenders, thereby increasing violence and crime in communities, contradicting the original intent of incarceration. Quality, accountability and propriety of correctional facilities are all lost in the quest for profit.
Cutting corners jeopardizes the integrity of the penal system, reducing quality to its barest minimum. By privatizing correctional institutes, they will be contracted to the lowest bidder, who will be offering the lowest wages to its potential employees. In Australia, one privately operated prison has had a plethora of complaints. The staff employed at this private prison earn approximately $35 000 while those employed at a similar public prison are earning close to $50 000.
Prison Industrial Complex #occupysanquentin
Tacoma prison
English: Female prisoners in a Mississippi state p...This discrepancy in salary has led to the decrease in the level of professionalism among those staffed in private facilities. This decrease is due to that fact that those who are skilled and educated in the area will seek jobs that will pay them for their experience and expertise. Unskilled and poorly trained workers are those who do take the positions in the private prisons. At Doncaster Penitentiary, in England, unqualified persons such as miners with no correctional officer experience or training were hired to work in the prison. This employee cost cutting ultimately results in poorer living conditions of the inmates, whereby they receive less comforts, poor sanitation and are even deprived of rehabilitation programs. Deregulating staff training, cutting benefits such as overtime and pension plans, and decreasing...