Privatized corrections in the 21st century

Abstract

Research Summary: Governments historically have relied on private organizations to assist with the provision of correctional punishment and services. This reliance continues but has engendered considerable debate that stems from ideological divides. Debate stems as well from a disjuncture between the limited evidence about privatization and calls for evidence-based policy. In this article, we present a conceptual framework for identifying what is and is not known about privatization and for guiding scholarship and policy. We then discuss key issues that must be addressed to advance knowledge about privatization and productively inform policy debates.

Simplifying Reality: The Media’s Portrayal of the Private Prison Debate

“…Against this backdrop, scholarship has shown that the debate about private prisons entails a more complex calculus than simply cost-efficiency or public views about the ethics of relying on private companies to manage punishment (e.g., Austin & Coventry, 2001; Lindsey et al, 2016; C. H. Logan, 1990; Mehigan & Rowe, 2007; Montes & Mears, 2019; Wooldredge & Cochran, 2019).…”

“…Critics point to this possibility as a basis for restricting privatization, but no empirical research exists that assesses this potential impact. Fourth, scholars have highlighted that privatization debates too frequently focus only on the private side of the equation and fail to consider the need for or effectiveness or efficiency of public prisons (Montes & Mears, 2019; Wooldredge & Cochran, 2019). Indeed, scholars emphasize that a balanced assessment requires consideration of both private and public prison operations and impacts.…”

Ethical Concerns About Private (and Public) Corrections: Extending the Focus Beyond Profit- Making and the Delegation of Punishment

“…This framing of the debate—privatization entails profiting from punishment and so is intrinsically problematic versus privatization necessarily saves taxpayers’ dollars and so is intrinsically better—ignores the more complicated reality of both private and public corrections (Montes & Mears, 2019). Indeed, privatization debates often obscure what are a broad set of considerations about the expectations society has for responding to and punishing crime.…”

Introduction to the special issue on privatized corrections

“…In this special issue, we seek to lay out what is and is not known about privatized corrections. In the first article, by the two of us (Montes & Mears, , this issue), we provide a roadmap of the critical research gaps and opportunities that exist for advancing scholarship and policy. We provide the context for, we hope, appreciating the need for and contributions of the essays that follow.…”

“…These two articles (Harding, Rynne, & Thomsen, ; Montes & Mears, ), then, are followed by several investigations of what might be termed “domains” of privatization. In the third article, for example, Gerald Gaes (, this issue) walks us through the state of research on privatization of prisons and jails.…”