Private Prisons not "Smart on Crime"

[Tom]

Private-prisons lobby for their own interests-imprisoning more people and keeping them in jail longer-and not ours.
The result may be more crime as poorly run prisons allow gangs to grow and frustrate attempts to rehabilitate.

THE Justice Policy Institute, a criminal-justice-reform advocacy group, has a report out today about America's for-profit prison industry. First, before the gnashing of teeth on both sides begins, let me state the obvious: there is nothing inherently wrong, or even objectionable, about private companies running prisons. Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the largest such company, operated 66 "correction and detention facilities" in 2010, and saw $1.67 billion in revenue. In its 2010 annual report it said it "benefits from significant economies of scale", and it well may, particularly when compared to corrections departments in low-population states. (Having said that, evidence that private prisons offer significant cost savings to their state-run counterparts is both thinner and more ambiguous in practice than in theory.) Nothing in the constitution says that prisoners must be held in government-owned or -operated facilities, and as the report explains, American prisons tended to be privately owned before the advent of the penitentiary system. For its shareholders CCA has done well, increasing its revenue every year in the last ten as the share of prisoners held in private facilities has risen (the second-largest prison-operator, the GEO Group, saw similar rises but had a dip from 2004 to 2005).

But for these companies to do well, people have to go to prison. Again, this is not in and of itself a problem: there are for-profit hospitals, and for them to do well people have to get sick. The difference is that for-profit hospitals tend not to poison people and break legs to keep their beds fully occupied, while for-profit prisons, as the JPI's report explains, tend to lobby for policies that serve them: harsher prison sentences and greater reliance on incarceration than on probation and parole. Admittedly, the report shows a great deal more smoke than fire, and its most damning intimation—that private-prison lobbyists were behind Arizona's immigration bill—overlooks the regrettable popularity of such measures. And, once again, companies are free to lobby for their own interests.

The problem is that their interests—imprisoning more people and keeping them in jail for longer periods of time—are not ours. Imprisoning people is expensive, ineffective and increasingly unpopular. It is that latter quality that may provide the greatest amount of hope. For years criminal-justice reform failed because it was seen as soft on crime. No politician wants to advocate for murderers and child molesters (never mind that most prisoners are in for non-violent drug offences). Hence, for instance, the government's sloth in combating prison rape. And prisoners cannot plead their cases as effectively as prison builders can plead theirs—the former tend to be poor, so they cannot afford lobbyists, and are often disenfranchised, and thus have no political representation.

But recently groups like the Pew Centre on the States and Right on Crime have rebranded reform efforts as "smart on crime", rather than soft. And in a time of declining crime rates and tight state budgets, smart reforms are gaining ground, and most aim to reduce the prison population. That may not be in the interest of CCA—the firm says as much in its 2010 anual report—but it's high time for good sense to trump good lobbying and cowardly politics.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democ...hejailhousenow

The Justice Policy Institute outlined several recommendations and argued, “If the administration and Congress want to spend scarce federal dollars to improve public safety, they should invest in programs and policies that have been shown to have positive and long-lasting effects on individuals and communities.”

The group's recommendations include investing in: community-based substance abuse and mental health treatment; evidence-based prevention programs for youth; employment, job skills, and education resources for underserved communities; and diversion programs that keep people from entering the corrections system.

“We should spend our money on treatment programs, on job creation and on teachers, not prison beds and police helicopters,” said Ms. Velazquez.

The Nation of Islam under the Honorable Elijah Muhammad had a successful history and record of accomplishment for reforming and rehabilitating thousands of men and women previously incarcerated, addicted to drugs, alcohol or engaged in criminal or illegal activities.

Minister Louis Farrakhan is continuing that work through the National Prison Reform Ministry of the Nation of Islam.In his book, “A Torchlight for America,” Not only is the prison system not set up to reform people, but America has not found ways to curb crime and constant law breaks, especially Black people, Min. Farrakhan noted.

Min. Farrakhan wrote, “Since so many of the inmates are our people, why not let us reform them and help to save some of the taxpayer's money? Why not let us handle the inmates and lessen the taxpayer's burden? We can handle the inmates for less than what America is paying now. And better, we can reform our people and make them productive members of society.”

http://newamericamedia.org/2011/03/d...on-justice.php

geez,,,Next we will be funding the uhurus so they can rehabilitate, train, and Indoctrinate all the wayward residents of st pete,,,,

and while we are on this line of thought,,,

maybe we should have more pinellas hopes and Safe Harbors. No one in Pinellas County will have to work anymore,,life will be like a long camping trip for everyone and all on the govenments dime.

It is disgusting that we have normalized recidivism and made it an institution in this country. We need to acknowledge that only God is the author of true law. This makes the Bible authoritative when we are dealing with crime. There are commandments, statutes and ordinanaces in the Bible. The Bible is not a "self-help" book. It is a blueprint for God's law order on earth.

When you spare the guilty, you punish the innocent. There are only 3 acceptable methods to deal with criminals:

1) Make them pay restitution to the victim(s) -

The amount can be multiplied by up to 5 times. If the offender can't pay, he will be a slave until his restitution is paid in full. The VICTIM(S) would receive 100% of the compensation.

2) Corporal punishment in the form of flogging (the offender would be four-pointed in the face-down position with no shirt and whipped with a scourge no more than 40 times) No medical attention would be provided following this punishment.

3) Death (stoning in public - the witness would cast the first stone and all the people would cast stones until the offender is dead)

3 Strikes and you're dead. No repeat offenders. Habitual criminals would be put to death.

Though they are sinful and detestable, activities such as prostitution, drug abuse and possession should not be handled by the criminal justice system. However, adultery is one crime that SHOULD be handled by the criminal justice system and it should be a capital offense.

Private-prisons lobby for their own interests-imprisoning more people and keeping them in jail longer-and not ours.
The result may be more crime as poorly run prisons allow gangs to grow and frustrate attempts to rehabilitate.

Actually prison unions have the exact same goals a private prisons in order to maintain and grow their memberships. Police, lawyers, judges, food service companies, etc. also want to expand the prison industrial complex because they too benefit financially from the status quo. Unions buy off politicians who scare the public into going along with larger prisons (and higher taxes) by claiming public safety is at risk. Gangs are present in every prison private or public so it doesn't matter who runs prisons in that regard.