Who is in private prisons? Demographic profiles of prisoners and workers in American private prisons

Burkhardt, Brett C.

doi:10.1016/j.ijlcj.2017.04.004

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 14 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In line with the observations and arguments by (Bauer, 2018) and (Williams, 2018), Burkhardt, (2017 notes that correctional officers in the private prison sector describe their job as ""the toughest beat" in law enforcement" (Lambert, Hogan, Griffin & Kelley, 2015;Page, 2011). Considering the minimum payment, harsh conditions and understaffed facilities, the staff turnover has been reported to be rather high (Craig and pond cummings, 2020, pp.…”

Section: Research On the Conditions In Private Prisonsmentioning

confidence: 63%

“…In the United States, private prisons first emerged in the late 18th century, when Louisiana privatized its prison called "The Walls" (Angola Museum, 2019) in 1844 (Bauer, 2018). After the Civil War, the use of private prisons expanded rapidly (Bauer, 2018), and it was in the late 1980s that modern private prisons developed (Burkhardt, 2017;Ortiz & Jackey, 2019). Nowadays in the United States, two private prison corporations own the largest share of private prisons: The Corrections Corporation of America, known as CoreCivic, and The GEO Group, formerly known as Wackenhut Correction Corporation, WCC, which were introduced above.…”

Section: Literature Review: Private Prisons In the United Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Serving the Public Good?—A Corpus-Assisted Discourse Analysis of Private Prisons and For-Profit Incarceration in the United States

Marko

2021

Front. Commun.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

It is a well-known fact that the United States has a very high prison population compared to other countries, and that it is particularly the private prison industry that has been thriving. This industry is based on a for-profit ideology that aims to save money by cutting costs wherever possible, and that, based on their profit-orientation, has no interest in rehabilitating offenders, since they make money with every incarcerated person. This paper investigates these issues from a linguistic perspective and takes a corpus of texts collected from the websites of the two largest private prison corporations in the United States (CoreCivic and The GEO Group) as a starting point for a corpus-assisted discourse analysis. The corpus comprises a total of 25,386 words and the analyses reveal that while both companies discursively background issues of violence, recidivism, and costs, they place a focus on the safety and security of their facilities and on their reentry programs for inmates. Thus, it is argued that the investigated corporations shift the discursive focus away from a negative discourse centering on violence and recidivism to a positive discourse centering on reentry and safety, which actively counters the findings that several researchers and journalists alike have revealed.

show abstract

Section: Research On the Conditions In Private Prisonsmentioning

confidence: 63%

Section: Literature Review: Private Prisons In the United Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Serving the Public Good?—A Corpus-Assisted Discourse Analysis of Private Prisons and For-Profit Incarceration in the United States

Marko

2021

Front. Commun.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…including non-secure community corrections centres and home confinement, held 15% of the federal prison population on December 31, 2017 [21, p. 16]. Their business model operates on the basis of more prison-ers, more profit [24]. The private sector has an incentive to encourage incarcerating as many people from lower class backgrounds with restricted access to lawyers who are less likely to legally challenge unfair treatment.…”

Section: Prison Institutions In the Us-private Prison Facilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

AI bias: exploring discriminatory algorithmic decision-making models and the application of possible machine-centric solutions adapted from the pharmaceutical industry

Belenguer¹

2022

AI Ethics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A new and unorthodox approach to deal with discriminatory bias in Artificial Intelligence is needed. As it is explored in detail, the current literature is a dichotomy with studies originating from the contrasting fields of study of either philosophy and sociology or data science and programming. It is suggested that there is a need instead for an integration of both academic approaches, and needs to be machine-centric rather than human-centric applied with a deep understanding of societal and individual prejudices. This article is a novel approach developed into a framework of action: a bias impact assessment to raise awareness of bias and why, a clear set of methodologies as shown in a table comparing with the four stages of pharmaceutical trials, and a summary flowchart. Finally, this study concludes the need for a transnational independent body with enough power to guarantee the implementation of those solutions.

show abstract

“…Because people who are incarcerated in the U.S. have lost certain freedoms and people working in corrections (most of whom are white and male, according to Burkhardt, 2017) are in an elevated position of power, the correctional ideologies of correctional employees are of interest to researchers. In a meta-analysis on predictors of correctional officers' attitudes and behaviors, Maahs and Pratt (2001) found that non-white correctional officers and those who had less role conflict more often held attitudes supportive of rehabilitation.…”

Section: Review Of Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Music Therapy in US Corrections

Segall

Yinger

2022

Voices

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and music therapy has existed in U.S. correctional facilities for almost a century, little is known about music therapists who provide services to people who are incarcerated. Exploration in this area is important as it could help inform clinical practice, music therapy curriculum, and potentially influence policy in the treatment of inmates. This study explores the philosophy, practices, and protocols of music therapists working in the U.S. corrections system. Board-certified music therapists ( N = 542) completed an online survey in which they indicated their reasons for working or not working in corrections. Participants who worked in corrections (n = 52) answered additional questions about their religious beliefs and political affiliation, music therapy practices in corrections, and protocols at their facility related to provision of music therapy services. The results of this survey revealed differences in demographic variables for music therapists who worked in prisons, who were significantly more likely to be men, χ2 (1) = 6.57, p = .015, or under-represented racial minorities, χ2 (1) = 5.82, p = .021, than music therapists who did not work in prisons, who were representative of music therapists in the U.S. (almost 90% white women). The majority of respondents who worked in corrections reported they were Democrats and more than half reported that their religious and/or spiritual views did not influence their decision to work in corrections. Music therapists most frequently addressed emotional awareness, impulse control, and self-awareness through music listening, discussion, and playing instruments. We discuss results in the context of current efforts to improve rehabilitation and treatment services within the U.S. correctional system.

show abstract

Who is in private prisons? Demographic profiles of prisoners and workers in American private prisons

Cited by 9 publications

References 14 publications

Serving the Public Good?—A Corpus-Assisted Discourse Analysis of Private Prisons and For-Profit Incarceration in the United States

Serving the Public Good?—A Corpus-Assisted Discourse Analysis of Private Prisons and For-Profit Incarceration in the United States

AI bias: exploring discriminatory algorithmic decision-making models and the application of possible machine-centric solutions adapted from the pharmaceutical industry

Music Therapy in US Corrections

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About