Private Prisons

Private Prisons

Over the past decade, private prisons have boomed. Private corporations have taken a big interest in the incarceration business. According to Phil Smith’s article “Private Prisons: Profits of Crime,” where there are people detained there are profits to be made. Corporations now control 122,900 beds for U.S. inmates, up at least eightfold since 1990, based on statistics published in Holly Johnson’s article called “ Prisons of Profit: Turning a Buck on America’s Incarceration Frenzy.” The reason is simple: Anti-drug laws and stiffer mandatory sentences are pushing the prison population above two million. Governments are strapped for capital to build new cells, which leads them to turn to profit prisons seem to offer plenty of cells at below- market prices. "If it could not be done cheaper than the government does it, then we wouldn't be in business now," says Brian Gardner, warden of the CCA prison in Youngstown. "We believe in giving the taxpayer the b...