Why Are Private Prisons Bad, You Ask?

Like many important topics, the rise in private prisons in the United States is grossly under-discussed.  There are many good arguments against private prisons – one of which is corruption.  The argument goes: if operating a prison is done for profit, then the nature of the ever-hunger profit beast could adversely impact the administration of justice.  This concern was recently brought to life in Pennsylvania, where the state Supreme Court just “vacated the convictions of all juveniles that appeared before former Judge Mark Ciavarella” between 2003 and 2008.

Why would the state Supreme Court do such a thing?  Well, you see Ciavarella accepted $2.8 million from the owner of two juvenile detention centers, where he sentenced youths.  Ciavarella is currently awaiting trial after being charged with accepting the money “in exchange for rulings that impacted the operation and construction of the two centers.  Regardless of how many juveniles were affected by this, this is pretty awful.  Worse yet is the staggering number of impacted cases – 6,500.

Of the nearly 1.7 million prisoners in the United States, a bit over 100,000 are currently held in private prisons.  For some bizarre reason, demand for private prisons continues to escalate and the industry is expected to continue growing.  The most common argument in favor of private prisons is that they’ll save costs.  However, a 2004 DOJ study debunked this claim.

So, to recap…private prisons don’t save money.  Instead, they increase risks of escape, are often poorly run, and inject new types of corruption into our criminal justice system.  Sigh.