For-Profit Prisons should be Banned

I apologize for any previous misconceptions based on the citing of quotes. I used the format "quote" (author); I did in reality cite my sources. I took the liberty of evaluating your own, and providing a number of quotes from them or evaluation for them: 1) "A 1996 report by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) looked at four state-funded studies and one commissioned by the federal government. The methodologies and results varied across the studies, with two showing no major difference in efficiency between private and public prisons, a third showing that private facilities resulted in savings to the state of seven percent, and the fourth finding the cost of a private facility falling somewhere between that of two similar public prisons" (meaning that only one study out of four found any cost savings). 2) "There is no consensus among academics and professionals in the field concerning the potential cost savings." 3) This source does say that private prisons are found to be cheaper; however, this study did not account to "cherry picking." Cherry picking is when a private prison chooses the prisoners that are cheaper to maintain, such as those without mental conditions. However, the prisoners that were not accepted by the private prison corporations still require their necessary prisons. They are sent to non-profit prisons, and still need to be paid for. The private prisons, again, do not save money (as originally thought), even though they appear to. 4) "Private Prisons cause a bigger debt for the state. For example, Montgomery County decided to construct the Joe Corley Detention Facility, operated by The Geo Group. The private prison took $45 million dollars in bond to construct. It has left the county with a large financial burden also. Even though the facility opened in August 2008 there are no inmates in the prison. Unfortunately for the county, according to County Judge Alan B. Sadler, 'did not anticipate' the potential loss of its tax-exempt status. According to Sadler, if the country loses its tax-exempt status 'the tax implications would be huge.'" 5) Again, this source did not account for cherry picking. The prisoners are still paid for; there is no money saved. 6) It is true that this source claims that private prisons save money; however, it is also true that this is written by a private prison corporation. This source is extremely biased and controversial, and cannot be trusted. 7) This source does not compare costs. 8) This source does not compare costs. 9) This source does not compare costs. It does state, however, that "The private contracting of prisoners for work fosters incentives to lock people up. ... " says a study by the Progressive Labor Party, which accuses the prison industry of being "an imitation of Nazi Germany with respect to forced slave labor and concentration camps." 10) This source does not compare costs. 11) This source does not compare costs. 12) "A study by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics found no such cost-savings when it compared public and private prisons" (meaning that private prisons do not in truth save any money). 13) This source does not compare costs. 14) This source is a repeat, and does not compare costs. Beyond these, the University of Utah found that "prison privatization provides neither a clear advantage nor disadvantage compared to publicly managed prisons" and that "cost savings from privatization are not guaranteed." Tell me now yourself: Are private prison institutions in reality saving money? Based on cost alone, nonprofit prisons are the larger beneficial choice. It is true that for-profit prisons should be banned. My opponent believes that it is far easier to reform the private prisons than it is to ban them; he believes that only being in place for 40 years justifies the mistreatment of prisoners, and that the prisons will reform themselves. He also believes that completely banning something is largely extreme. It is true that banning something is an extreme measure; however, it is not true that the enslavement of prisoners is justified. To cite a historical example, slavery in the United States did not ever improve itself, and it was necessary for the practice to be completely banned to fix the system. Time did not reform the systems of African slavery, and extreme measures were imperative to be taken. For-profit prisons should be banned. Thank you.