Advocates of private prisons argue that private prisons lower costs and improve quality by introducing competition, and so are more efficient.

Do you agree with this?

Students should submit a response paper. The paper should be two pages, double spaced, size 12 font, Times New Roman. These reflections should briefly summarize and synthesize the week’s readings (at most a paragraph), and then offer critique and discussion points. The summary should be short, around a paragraph. The bulk of the paper should offer the student’s critique. In critiquing the week’s readings, students should address the extent to which they do or do not believe that private prisons lower costs and improve quality. Student should, as far as possible, bridge the week’s readings with other readings from the class or other external literature.

Answer preview

Over the years, mass incarceration in the US increased, leading to increased contracts with private prisons. The U.S has the highest number of incarcerations of over 2.2 million people (The Sentencing Project, 2016). A combination of racial isolation, high levels of poverty, and unemployment increase the levels of incarceration, even as communities try to adjust crime rates (Kaeble, and Cowhig, 2018). In other words, social and economic disadvantages cause a self-reinforcing cycle that traps specific communities in prison loopholes. In other words, crime hotspots lead to imprisonment booms. According to Sampson and Loeffler, (2010), the reason as to why prison populations increase is because of changes in policies that target to be tough on crime activities. However, concerns about the growing cost of correction systems that disadvantage developmental projects are have been instrumental in reducing prison populations. Cost reduction and improved quality in private prisons are hypothetical since they provide substandard benefits, services, and salaries to employees and prisoners to secure a proportion of…