Pennsylvania

That remark was made by me due to various reasons that I have alluded to in the past. I will be back with a complete answer. I will present my answers in parts.

Private jails, prisons, and detention centers have a long history in the U.S., as far back as 1852 when San Quentin was the first for-profit prison in the U.S., long before it was state-owned. A resurgence in private prisons came in the wake of wide-spread privatization that took place during the 1980s. My state was one of the first to jump on that particular trend.

"Private Prisons. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, for-profit companies were responsible for approximately 7 percent of state prisoners and 18 percent of federal prisoners in 2015 (the most recent numbers currently available).

In combination with an overall privatization push by President Reagan, prison populations soared during the "war on drugs" and prison overcrowding and rising costs became a contentious political issue. Private business stepped in to offer a solution, and the era of privately run prisons began. Privately run prisons promised increased, business-like efficiency, which would result in cost savings and an overall decrease in the amount that government would have to spend on the prison system while still provided the same service. It was also theorized that privately run prisons would be held more accountable, because they could be fined or fired, unlike traditional prisons (although the counter point is that privately run prisons are not subject to the same constitutional constraints that state-run prisons are)."

"One of the most perverse incentives in a privately run prison system is that the more prisoners a company houses, the more it gets paid. This leads to a conflict of interest on the part of privately run prisons where they, in theory, are incentivized to not rehabilitate prisoners. If private prisons worked to reduce the number of repeat offenders, they would be in effect reducing the supply of profit-producing inmates.

While some studies have demonstrated that private prisons may save governments money, other studies have found just the opposite. A study by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics found no such cost-savings when it compared public and private prisons. This is in part because simple numbers don't tell the whole story. For instance, privately run prisons can refuse to accept certain expensive prisoners, and they regularly do. This has the effect of artificially deflating the costs associated with running a private jail."

[civilrights.findlaw.com]

Jailing Americans for Profit: The Rise of the Prison Industrial Complex

"“Mass incarceration on a scale almost unexampled in human history is a fundamental fact of our country today — perhaps the fundamental fact, as slavery was the fundamental fact of 1850. In truth, there are more black men in the grip of the criminal-justice system — in prison, on probation, or on parole — than were in slavery then. Over all, there are now more people under ‘correctional supervision’ in America — more than six million — than were in the Gulag Archipelago under Stalin at its height.” — Adam Gopnik, “The Caging of America“"

"Consider this: despite the fact that violent crime in America has been on the decline, the nation’s incarceration rate has tripled since 1980. Approximately 13 million people are introduced to American jails in any given year."

[huffingtonpost.com]

"Trump Sets Private Prisons Free
The incarceration industry was having a tough time. Then Trump got elected.

[newyorker.com]

Half of the world's prison population of about nine million is held in the US, China or Russia. Prison rates in the US are the world's highest, at 724 people per 100,000. In Russia the rate is 581. At 145 per 100,000, the imprisonment rate of England and Wales is at about the midpoint worldwide.

[news.bbc.co.uk]

It's referring to time limits for filing an appeal. It seems a rather poorly written article.

@Angelface I just read your responses and your reference articles. First I must disclose I have worked for both CCA, GEO Group as well as the State of Michigan Department of Corrections. In my 20 years of experience in the correctional field I must respectfully disagree with you.

I believe the issues you raise are more criminal justice form than private versus government run correctional facilities that include county jails. Federal, State and local jurisdiction all recognize the high cost of incarceration they also recognize the failures of their governmental agencies effectively operating these facilities.

First let us consider the fact that legislators at all three levels are responsible to make laws and set penalties for said offenders. To say the private prison companies lobby lawmakers to keep incarceration rates high and even add to it is disingenuous at best. All companies lobby their lawmakers to make their business environment better and more profitable. It is on these lawmakers to identify true criminal justice goals and objectives.

In your reference material their is a debate on whether or not privately ran prisons save taxpayers money. In my opinion on this part of the issue both do not save or better yet conserve taxpayer funds effectively. A better system would be a hybrid one were governmental employees were charged with the duty of good financial stewardship. In government ran facilities it is common to find financial managers spending funds without regard to budgetary concerns. In private ran facilities it is also common for financial managers going to the other extreme.

Lets address the fallacy that privately ran facilities are not monitored as well as government facilities. This is simply not true. In fact in government run facilities employees are routinely granted qualified immunity from inmate lawsuits. In private facilities the employees have no such shield. I would also mention that all the private prisons I worked in had several state or federal monitors on site to detect and report violations of policy and procedure. They were also required to obtain and maintain accreditation with American Correctional Association standards. These standards are extremely through and cover every aspect of incarceration. As I stated before private prison employees are not immune from inmate lawsuits and the very fact of the matter is lawsuits by inmates are filed every day in this country. On occasion these lawsuits exact change in policy and procedure and of course the cost of incarceration.

In regards to the notion that private prisons reject special needs inmates whether for health or other reasons there is a reason for that. Just like the State or Federal government these costs are prohibitive. I would suggest these states and federal government review their policies on treating mental ill patients and provide appropriate funding and also look at compassionate release of terminally ill inmates.

Here is an interesting article for you to read.

[news.vice.com]