...A Critical Perspective on Prison Privatization April 6, 2015 A Critical Perspective on Prison Privatization Topic Statement: “Is the privatization of prisons for profit an ethical practice?” The topic of a country privatizing areas of industry is far from a novel idea, especially since the rise of capitalism. With the United States being widely considered the father of capitalism, it is almost expected to see the privatization of a key component of its judicial system, prison, becoming more and more common. Although the underlying function of a prison as a means of social reform has remained constant since its inception in 1750 BCE with the Babylonian Empire, externalities are beginning to influence a change in the governing bodies of penitentiaries (Roberts, 2006). With governments and taxpayers seeing the opportunities for cost savings, countries throughout the world are beginning to employ private operating models for their penitentiaries, with the U.S. being the primary driver of this change (Trivedi, 2014). Framework of the Issue A change in the operating sovereign of a prison, from federal to private, is controversial enough that the effects of this privatization have garnered the title of the Prison-Industrial Complex. The complex is a scholarly attempt to explain the intertwining of the profit-driven agendas of private prison companies and the correlated expansion of the US inmate population. Although cost savings for the government...
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...The Meaning of Privatization Copyright 1988 by Paul Starr. Seite 1 Readers may redistribute this article to other individuals for noncommercial use, provided that the text and this notice remain intact. This article may not be resold, reprinted, or redistributed for compensation of any kind without prior written permission from the author. If you have any questions about permissions, please contact the author at (609) 258-4533 or by e-mail at starr@princeton.edu. Preferred Citation: Paul Starr, "The Meaning of Privatization," Yale Law and Policy Review 6 (1988): 6-41. This article also appears in Alfred Kahn and Sheila Kamerman, eds., Privatization and the Welfare State (Princeton University Press, 1989). The Meaning of Privatization Paul Starr Privatization is a fuzzy concept that evokes sharp political reactions. It covers a great range of ideas and policies, varying from the eminently reasonable to the wildly impractical. Yet however varied and at times unclear in its meaning, privatization has unambiguous political origins and objectives. It emerges from the countermovement against the growth of government in the West and represents the most serious conservative effort of our time to formulate a positive alternative. Privatization proposals do not aim merely to return services to their original location in the private sphere. Some proposals seek to create new kinds of market relations and promise results comparable or superior to conventional public programs. Hence...
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...the last 60 years, the United States Space Program has brought to life things that, as late as the 1950’s, were once believed to be impossible. As a little boy, I remember watching TV in the library at school as the latest space shuttle was going to blast off from its launch pad en route to its destiny in space exploration. As I’ve grown, so too has my never ending curiosity of what lies beyond our own planet and solar system. We have been to the moon, seen unbelievable, up close photos of planets like Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, and just when it looked like we’re about to make a leap into exploring beyond our solar system or possibly sending a manned mission to Mars, it all stops. Along with millions of other people who grew up dreaming of one day going into outer space or visiting a faraway planet, we all watched in horror as the United States Space Program has all but been eliminated by decisions made by members of Congress and President Barak Obama to drastically overhaul funding for NASA and the United States Space Program. In 2010, the President announced dramatic changes including the abandonment of the Constellation program and the Ares Rocket which was supposed to replace the newly retired space shuttle program, as well as outlining the development of commercializing elements of the industry which has forced NASA to re-evaluate the overall direction of its program and establish new, long-term initiatives. Will the commercialization and privatization of the space flight...
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...Privatization of Prisons Private Prison, Inc. Introduction America has been getting tougher on lawbreakers. This is something that the public long has been demanding. The problem it creates, however, is a shortage of prison capacity to hold the increased numbers of convicted criminals. This has led to: prison overcrowding, sometimes prompting court actions against penal systems; rapidly rising operational outlays; and taxpayer resistance to the cost of new prisons. A partial answer to the problems of prison overcrowding and high costs may be the "privatization" of prisons. Costs and overcrowding problems are the driving force behind the privatization phenomenon. As a national average, it costs roughly $20,000 per year to keep an inmate in prison. There are approximately 650,000 inmates in state and local prisons. This costs taxpayers an estimated $18 billion each year. More than two thirds of the states are facing serious overcrowding problems, and many are operating at least 50 percent over capacity. Cost comparisons between private and government operation of prisons show frequent cost savings under private management. While the national average cost to hold a prisoner in a government run prison is $40 per inmate a day, many privately run prisons charge the governments on average lower fees. U.S. Corrections Corporation (USCC), a private company headquartered in Louisville charges Kentucky charges a daily fee of $25 per inmate. In their first year of operation in...
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...began, the formal prison system, as we know it today, developed. Throughout most of the world, the correctional system is administered by the state, and it is considered a key function that the government must fulfill: protect its citizens by guaranteeing the state of law while enforcing the judicial system. More than two decades ago, the United Sates and Great Britain began experimenting with privatization of their prison systems, outsourcing the management to private enterprises. Like most privatization issues, this topic has many supporters from the liberal economic philosophy, as well as many detractors that argue against profit seeking enterprises. The discussion promotes themes such as the ethical dilemma of the private sector “administering punishment”, selecting the correct metrics used to evaluate the performance of private sector versus public sector, disputes of what are “just and fair” services that the inmates are entitled to, among others. In the following essay we aim to bring these topics into light and try to analyze the pros and cons of privatizing the prison system. Private prisons are one of the fastest growing industries in the security and protection industry. Up until 2003, there were an estimated of 102 private prisons in the U.S. holding more than 100,000 inmates. As of 2008, there were 128,524 inmates held in private prisons, representing 8% of the...
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...began, the formal prison system, as we know it today, developed. Throughout most of the world, the correctional system is administered by the state, and it is considered a key function that the government must fulfill: protect its citizens by guaranteeing the state of law while enforcing the judicial system. More than two decades ago, the United Sates and Great Britain began experimenting with privatization of their prison systems, outsourcing the management to private enterprises. Like most privatization issues, this topic has many supporters from the liberal economic philosophy, as well as many detractors that argue against profit seeking enterprises. The discussion promotes themes such as the ethical dilemma of the private sector “administering punishment”, selecting the correct metrics used to evaluate the performance of private sector versus public sector, disputes of what are “just and fair” services that the inmates are entitled to, among others. In the following essay we aim to bring these topics into light and try to analyze the pros and cons of privatizing the prison system. Private prisons are one of the fastest growing industries in the security and protection industry. Up until 2003, there were an estimated of 102 private prisons in the U.S. holding more than 100,000 inmates. As of 2008, there were 128,524 inmates held in private prisons, representing 8% of the...
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..."Pros And Cons Of Prison Privatization" Prisons are institutions that have specifically been designed to handle the members of the society who are under conviction of different crimes. The people who reside in the prisons are referred to as inmates or prisoners and the time they spend in the prisons depends on the imprisonment period. This period is dependent of the intensity of the crime committed. Once in the prisons, the inmates undergo rehabilitation, incapacitation, retribution and deterrence which are elements considered appropriate for the provision of justice to the society. In the past, it has been the responsibility of the government to manage these institutions on behalf of the society. The process of privatizing the prison industry has both negative and positive effects. Sloane, 1996). Privatization has been applied in prison departments in most countries across the globe, there are few countries who used it in the past. For example during the mid 18th century, the United States government entered into a treaty with a number of private investors to manage a number of its institutions and these investors went ahead to contract inmates to some of their private enterprises as a source of labor. Some of the institutions that were contracted included 'New York Auburn and Louisiana' penal colonies. However, this did not last for long based on the fact that there was rampant corruption that was carried out as well as vicious resistance from other...
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...advantages and disadvantages of privatization and nationalization of industries or firms. The essay will conclude by suggesting which of the two would be viable for future policy consideration in Zambia. The term privatization is often loosely used to mean a number of related activities, including any expansion of the scope of private sector activity in an economy and the adoption by the public sector of efficiency enhancing techniques commonly employed by the private sector. The term privatization may be taken to mean a financial transaction-the sale of a publicly owned asset to the private sector or the transfer of the authority to make resource allocation decisions from the government to the market place (Gabel, 1987). While acknowledging that no definition of privatization is water tight, for the purpose of this essay, privatization will be defined as the transfer of productive asset ownership and control from the public to the private sector (Ibid). In Africa, many governments have embraced the idea of privatization, brought to the fore mainly as a part of the adjustment and stabilization programs of the mid-eighties and the nineties. Privatization now frequently features in government policy statements and in conditionalities from donors. The past decade has also seen the World Bank and other donors get increasingly involved in lending operations towards parastatal sector reforms that included privatization components (Landis, 2000). Privatization is therefore a capitalist...
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...Privatization of Telecoms in Asia John Ure and Araya Vivorakij* Privatization viewed as a panacea for the most pressing problems besetting the modernization and development of telecommunications has become, in recent years, a widely accepted part of orthodox thinking. Wellenius, Stern, Nulty and Stern (1989) illustrate the point. ‘How should privatization be defined?’ asks the International Finance Corporation (IFC, 1995). ‘A generous stance would admit any transfer of ownership or control from public to private sector. A more exacting definition would require that the transfer be enough to give the private operators substantive independent power.’ 1 Hence, by privatization is usually meant the transfer of state-owned assets to private sector ownership, management and control typified by the sale of part or all of the shares of a state owned (and operated) telecommunications enterprise (SOTE). We shall argue that the ‘more exacting definition’ is exactly appropriate for the experience of Western economies from which it originates - see below - while it is too narrow, too precise, insufficiently ‘generous’ to capture the less clearly defined lines of demarcation between public and private capital in the context of Asian telecommunications. We shall argue that this is because the delineation between state (political society) and civil society is less well developed in Asia, certainly less well articulated in law, and unevenly developed even within single large Asian countries...
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...OVERVIEW OF AVIATION PRIVATIZATION IN EUROPE, AFRICAN AND ASIAN COUNTRY PREPARED BY: NUR IZZAH IWANI BT IBRAHIM@ABD RAHMAN 2010554633 NURUL HARYANIE BT MISRAN 2010572197 WANDEE BT JAMIL 2010558697 GROUP : AC220 8B PREPARED FOR : ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR DR. ASMAH ABDUL AZIZ PERSONAL BIOGRAPHY NUR IZZAH IWANI BT IBRAHIM @ ABD. RAHMAN 2010554663 NURUL HARYANIE BT MISRAN 2010572197 WANDEE BT JAMIL 2010558697 Contents ABSTRACT 3 KEYWORDS 3 INTRODUCTION 4 OVERVIEW OF AVIATION PRIVATIZATION IN EUROPE, AFRICAN AND ASIAN COUNTRIES 5 Argentina – Its pitfall and the problems behind it 5 Turkey – A Privatization through BOT 7 Kenya Airways – A Successful Story 9 Malaysian Airlines Considering Privatization 10 Germany-Fully privatized and partially privatized 12 Privatization in United Kingdom 14 IMPLICATION OF PRIVATIZATION 16 RECOMMENDATIONS 17 REFERENCES 18 ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the privatization of airports in six different countries which are Argentina, Turkey, Germany, United Kingdom, Malaysia and Kenya. The analysis aims to highlight the objectives, implementation and the government rules towards privatization of airports. This paper also aims to identify to what degree privatization contributes to or enhances the performance of the airports. The study measures the change in any given indicator of performance whether the privatization on the airports...
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...prisons are better at all of the above while most support private prisons. The term prison privatization commonly refers to the policy of contracting out the management and operation of prisons and jails to private, for-profit companies. Prison privatization is a controversial issue, with ongoing debate over the ethics of delegating the punishment function of the criminal justice system to private actors, weather private prisons cost less to operate than public facilities, and if the quality of security and conditions of confinement differ between public and private prisons. In 2005, approximately 200 private correctional facilities operated in the United States, housing a total of 107,000 inmates. Four companies provide more than 90 percent of private prison capacity. About 6 percent of all state inmates and 14 percent of federal inmates are incarcerated in privatized facilities. The idea of privatizing prisons emerged in the 1980s as a policy remedy to the problem of growing incarceration rates, severe prison overcrowding, and constraints on increasing government funding of new prison space. Public investment in new prisons climbed eightfold from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, but was at or approaching its limits in many jurisdictions due to voter rejection of construction bonds, statutory ceilings on state debt, or general taxpayer unwillingness to support increases in government spending. With privatization used as a way of reducing costs and increasing capacity in...
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...PRIVATIZATION OF WAR SIKANDER ZAFAR SZABIST Abstract: It is believed that the fate of United States of America had been on the hands of mercenaries now what we call the modern-day private military companies. Since the start till the American Revolution in 1776, the American lands had been owned and controlled by mercenaries and private contractors. Christopher Columbus, the man who got backing from Spain's Queen Isabella and king Ferdinand to launch the voyage and discover the new world relater effectively became a private military contractor or a PMC. This shows that the history of contracting private military -previously by the royal offices and now by the democratically elected governments- have been practiced; Historians claims that mercenaries existed in ancient Egypt to safeguard the Egyptian sovereignty by the rebels of that time. Indeed, mercenaries have transformed into private military contractors after the downfall of Soviet Union in 1991 and the characteristics of a PMC and ancient mercenaries are rather similar. However, under The Hague Convention no. 5 mercenaries are illegal organizations but the role and responsibility of private military organizations is unknown in the international law which gives them free reins to operate in a way which fulfills their greed to make abnormal profits. The operations of private military companies is controversial, their contracts with the governments and other non-state actors is discreet in nature which confines the mass...
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...Corrections Accreditation and Privatization Corrections Accreditation and Privatization Correctional facilities, today, operate on standards that would be unheard of in the past. The jails and prison of the past lacked a certain sense of humanity and an ability to show society that the prison was a place of reformation rather than condemnation. The standards for which correctional facilities follow come from the Commission on Accreditation in Corrects (CAC). The CAC developed the standards followed in today’s prisons. Accreditation officially began in 1978, jointly administered by the CAC and the American Correctional Association. What is corrections accreditation? The accreditation program offers public and private organizations performing correctional functions the opportunity to evaluate their operations against national standards, to remedy deficiencies, and to upgrade the quality of correctional programs and services (Foster, 2006). Benefits from the accreditation process are the following: improved management; defense against lawsuits through documentation and the demonstration of a “good faith” effort to improve conditions of confinement; increased accountability and enhanced public credibility for administrative and line staff; a safe and more humane environment for personnel and offenders; and establishment of measurable criteria for upgrading programs, personnel, and physical plant on a continuing basis (Foster, 2006). Professional development in the corrections...
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...What factors contributed to the emergence of a market for private prisons in the U.S.? Discuss the relationship between politics, ideology, and private prisons. How can policy makers optimize the use of private prisons in the criminal justice system? Private jails, prisons and other type of correctional centers have an elongated history in the United States. This goes as far back as 1852 when San Quentin, which is currently state owned, was the first for-profit prison in the in the United States. A more recent reappearance in private prisons came in the wake of wide-spread privatization that took place during the 1980s. Prior to this, only some facets of prison management had been privatized, but overall management had still been held by federal and state authorities. Currently there are over 150 private jails, prisons and detention centers in the U.S. In combination with an overall privatization push by President Reagan, prison populations escalated during the "war on drugs" and prison overcrowding and rising costs became a controversial political issue. Private business stepped in to offer a resolution which resulted in the era of privately run prisons. Privately run prisons pledged increased business-like efficiency, which would result in cost savings and an overall reduction in the amount the government would have to spend on the prison system while still providing the same service. It was also hypothesized that privately run prisons would be held more accountable, because...
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...State versus Private Ownership Andrei Shleifer Department of Economics Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts. Abstract Private ownership should generally be preferred to public ownership when the incentives to innovate and to contain costs must be strong. In essence, this is the case for capitalism over socialism, explaining the "dynamic vitality" of free enterprise. The great economists of the 1930s and 1940s failed to see the dangers of socialism in part because they focused on the role of prices under socialism and capitalism, and ignored the enormous importance of ownership as the source of capitalist incentives to innovate. Moreover, many of the concerns that private firms fail to address “social goals” can be addressed through government contracting and regulation, without resort to government ownership. The case for private provision only becomes stronger when competition between suppliers, reputational mechanisms, the possibility of provision by private not-for-profit firms, as well as political patronage and corruption, are brought into play. 1 What kinds of goods and services should be provided by government employees as opposed to private firms? Should government workers make steel and cars in government-owned factories? Should teachers and doctors be publicly employed or should they work for private schools and practices? Should garbage be picked up by civil servants or employees of private garbage haulers? Should the whole economy be "socialized"? Although...
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