The initial justification for privatizing prisons was that it would save the taxpayers a ton of money. But money isn't really the issue. Liberty and dignity are. Investors in prison corporations expect to double their money every five years. To meet that goal, costs per inmate must be minimized, the jail cells must be fully occupied, and the inmates themselves must be exploited.
Private prisons are dangerous for prisoners and for our social fabric.
In 1992, Tennessee turned over operation of one state prison, SouthCentral, to the Correction Corporation of America, a company less than 20 years old that runs almost half the private prisons in the country. In 1996, state investigators compared the operations of South Central with those of a comparable state-run prison. The investigators found the costs to the taxpayer of the private prison were about the same as those of a public facility. Since a portion of the private plant's revenue goes to investors, less is available for prison care and guard training. As a result, as Eric Bates reports in The Nation, the CCA prison has become a dangerous place.