Free market prisons

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‘Free-Market’ Prisons

In prison for assaulting his girlfriend, David Goodell was transferred to a halfway house in Newark; but he soon walked out, found another girlfriend and killed her. Derek West Harris, a friendly barber guilty of $700 in unpaid parking tickets, was sent to Newark’s 900-bed Delaney Hall, a rehabilitation house for minor offenders. On his third day there three gang members killed him over three dollars.

These institutions in New Jersey are not state prisons but part of a national network of private prisons operating under the name Community Education Centers. According to a 10-month investigation by The New York Times, they are ungovernable failures in which drugs, murder and chaos rule. Their staffs, which include no corrections officers, are untrained and incompetent. At least 5,100 inmates have escaped since 2005—mostly by not returning from work-release. Eighty-five are still at large. Since Chris Christie became governor of New Jersey, at least 1,300 inmates have escaped in 29 months. In 2011 no one escaped from the state prisons.

Private-enterprise prisons are to the American penal system what Blackwater was to Iraq. The government passes off its solemn responsibilities for security and policing to companies that are responsible primarily to their stockholders. This is not free-market competition; it is living off government contracts in a system where state prisons rent empty beds in private prisons and transfer violent criminals into halfway-house dormitories. Politicians’ real moral and legal obligation should be to keep the prisons in line. Instead, Governor Christie lobbied for Community Education in 2001 and put the son-in-law of the company’s chief executive on his office staff in 2010.
 
wondrousgnat said:
‘Free-Market’ Prisons

In prison for assaulting his girlfriend, David Goodell was transferred to a halfway house in Newark; but he soon walked out, found another girlfriend and killed her. Derek West Harris, a friendly barber guilty of $700 in unpaid parking tickets, was sent to Newark’s 900-bed Delaney Hall, a rehabilitation house for minor offenders. On his third day there three gang members killed him over three dollars.

These institutions in New Jersey are not state prisons but part of a national network of private prisons operating under the name Community Education Centers. According to a 10-month investigation by The New York Times, they are ungovernable failures in which drugs, murder and chaos rule. Their staffs, which include no corrections officers, are untrained and incompetent. At least 5,100 inmates have escaped since 2005—mostly by not returning from work-release. Eighty-five are still at large. Since Chris Christie became governor of New Jersey, at least 1,300 inmates have escaped in 29 months. In 2011 no one escaped from the state prisons.

Private-enterprise prisons are to the American penal system what Blackwater was to Iraq. The government passes off its solemn responsibilities for security and policing to companies that are responsible primarily to their stockholders. This is not free-market competition; it is living off government contracts in a system where state prisons rent empty beds in private prisons and transfer violent criminals into halfway-house dormitories. Politicians’ real moral and legal obligation should be to keep the prisons in line. Instead, Governor Christie lobbied for Community Education in 2001 and put the son-in-law of the company’s chief executive on his office staff in 2010.
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I’m a strong believer in the free-market, but some tasks are best left up to the government I believe: Defense, Infastructure, Courts of Law, Police, Fire Departments, and Penal systems are duties I believe the government should do solely.
 
austenbosten said:
I’m a strong believer in the free-market, but some tasks are best left up to the government I believe: Defense, Infastructure, Courts of Law, Police, Fire Departments, and Penal systems are duties I believe the government should do solely.
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Well, if it is going to be run in the free market, there needs to be competition to make it effective. Most of these penitential bed and breakfasts are sole sourced to a select few bidders, many of whom have a poor retention history. Wackenhutt is one of the few private prison contractors with a decent reputation.
 
Scott_Lafrance said:
Well, if it is going to be run in the free market, there needs to be competition to make it effective. Most of these penitential bed and breakfasts are sole sourced to a select few bidders, many of whom have a poor retention history. Wackenhutt is one of the few private prison contractors with a decent reputation.
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Yes but do we really want Public-Private partnerships? I can understand for certain one-time projects such as Project Apollo, Gemini, Mercury, and STS…but a private company getting paid with taxdollars to do a service that is the government’s responsibility?

Ehh something tells me the government isn’t doing it’s job and it’s seeking to do other tasks that it’s not expected to and is slacking off their required tasks.
 
austenbosten said:
Yes but do we really want Public-Private partnerships? I can understand for certain one-time projects such as Project Apollo, Gemini, Mercury, and STS…but a private company getting paid with taxdollars to do a service that is the government’s responsibility?

Ehh something tells me the government isn’t doing it’s job and it’s seeking to do other tasks that it’s not expected to and is slacking off their required tasks.
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There are alot of complications in having privately run prisons. There are also alot of problems with publicly run ones as well. With a private system, if an employee is incompetent, you fire him. Sometimes hard to do with tenured and unionized public sector corrections officers. Another thing is control. As put by America’s greatest President, Calvin Coolidge, “You cannot divorce government control from political control.” Government run prisons are always hostage to the controlling political apparatus.
 
I forgot about the free market fire stations. Towns were protected by untrained people with a high turn over rate. Of course the cost cutting neant lower salaries and firemen did not think it was worth the risk to life.
 
austenbosten said:
I’m a strong believer in the free-market, but some tasks are best left up to the government I believe: Defense, Infastructure, Courts of Law, Police, Fire Departments, and Penal systems are duties I believe the government should do solely.
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Because nothing like this ever happens at a State or Federal prison. :rolleyes:
 
wondrousgnat said:
I forgot about the free market fire stations. Towns were protected by untrained people with a high turn over rate. Of course the cost cutting neant lower salaries and firemen did not think it was worth the risk to life.
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Not necessarily true. In this city when there were competing fire companies, the rivals would sometimes brawl in the street and forget to put out the fire.
 
wondrousgnat said:
‘Free-Market’ Prisons

…Private-enterprise prisons are to the American penal system what Blackwater was to Iraq. …
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And what would that be? The Blackwater and KBR employees I knew were top notch. Not that first hand experience should have any precedent over a pretty far left “Catholic” source.

Oh, and maybe we should source the original article: far left America magazine

americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=13494

It’s below the article praising the Affordable Care Act. :rolleyes:
 
“In 2011 no one escaped from the state prisons.”

Not true or misleading at best. Perhaps no one escaped from “behind the walls” in the system, those are the more serious offenders who wouldn’t be eligible for work release. But If you search the State of New Jersey Department of Corrections website, they list 21 escapes in 2011. Work Release programs are part of State Prisons and inmates are unsupervised by corrections staff. I’ve found that most of these escapes are due to bad news from home, girlfriends and wives leaving them, loved ones sick, etc. The only way to stop escapes from Work Release programs is to abandon the programs altogether. But then the New York Times would condemn the DOC for not rehabilitating these inmates back into society.

These inmates for the most part have no violence on their records and have worked their way through the system with good behavior to make it to the program. They’re carefully evaluated by staff on a case by case basis. We called them walk away’s. This is just another jab by the liberal NYT’s at a conservative politician IMO.
 
wondrousgnat said:
‘Free-Market’ Prisons

In prison for assaulting his girlfriend, David Goodell was transferred to a halfway house in Newark; but he soon walked out, found another girlfriend and killed her. Derek West Harris, a friendly barber guilty of $700 in unpaid parking tickets, was sent to Newark’s 900-bed Delaney Hall, a rehabilitation house for minor offenders. On his third day there three gang members killed him over three dollars.

These institutions in New Jersey are not state prisons but part of a national network of private prisons operating under the name Community Education Centers. According to a 10-month investigation by The New York Times, they are ungovernable failures in which drugs, murder and chaos rule. Their staffs, which include no corrections officers, are untrained and incompetent. At least 5,100 inmates have escaped since 2005—mostly by not returning from work-release. Eighty-five are still at large. Since Chris Christie became governor of New Jersey, at least 1,300 inmates have escaped in 29 months. In 2011 no one escaped from the state prisons.

Private-enterprise prisons are to the American penal system what Blackwater was to Iraq. The government passes off its solemn responsibilities for security and policing to companies that are responsible primarily to their stockholders. This is not free-market competition; it is living off government contracts in a system where state prisons rent empty beds in private prisons and transfer violent criminals into halfway-house dormitories. Politicians’ real moral and legal obligation should be to keep the prisons in line. Instead, Governor Christie lobbied for Community Education in 2001 and put the son-in-law of the company’s chief executive on his office staff in 2010.
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It would seem to me that the state of New Jersey should terminate their business relationship with Community Education Center. What has taken place so far is completely unacceptable and the governor definitely needs to take action on this.
 
gamewell45 said:
It would seem to me that the state of New Jersey should terminate their business relationship with Community Education Center. What has taken place so far is completely unacceptable and the governor definitely needs to take action on this.
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Who gets fired when this happens at a state prison?
 
austenbosten said:
Yes but do we really want Public-Private partnerships? I can understand for certain one-time projects such as Project Apollo, Gemini, Mercury, and STS…but a private company getting paid with taxdollars to do a service that is the government’s responsibility?

Ehh something tells me the government isn’t doing it’s job and it’s seeking to do other tasks that it’s not expected to and is slacking off their required tasks.
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Like GM?:eek:
 
SamH said:
Who gets fired when this happens at a state prison?
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I would assume that the warden would be first in line since the Warden is normally in charge of the correctional facility. Normally an investigation would take place by the state and if rank and file employees have violated the rules/rights, then they would undoubtedly be held accountable.
 
gamewell45 said:
I would assume that the warden would be first in line since the Warden is normally in charge of the correctional facility. Normally an investigation would take place by the state and if rank and file employees have violated the rules/rights, then they would undoubtedly be held accountable.
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Apparently you’re unaware of just how difficult it is to fire a tenured, unionized government employee.
 
Scott_Lafrance said:
Apparently you’re unaware of just how difficult it is to fire a tenured, unionized government employee.
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Quite the opposite. Many of my friends are state corrections officers and they do terminate the employment of those who do not follow and/or violate procedure. Of course if the state seeks to terminate the employment of a unionized employee they have to prove just cause, which is reasonable. You make an accusation, you need to be able to prove it which i think is fair.

Perhaps in your state, they are lax with the employees, but not in mine.
 
There are times when a choice must be made. Pay extra money to get people who have been trained, cleared by an FBI background check, and will stay to gain experience. Or go the economical route saving as much as possible by outsorcing to a private company whose goal is to turn the biggest profit possible. Corrections Corporation of America is a publicly traded company.

I subscribe to Catholic Answers Magazine, The Observor from the Rockford Diocese (though I live in Joliet Diocese) and New Oxford Review. Those are my left wing sources.
 
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