Private Prisons Pros and Cons List

It is a widely known fact that the judicial system faces one of the hardest takes in criminal justice: overcrowded prisons. When more and more people are put into prisons, not only does it tax the government workers who control the prison, but it also taxes the people of society who have to deal with the struggle of overcrowded prisons in their neighborhoods. When prisons become over populated, it can be a battle between the inmates and the prison officials to maintain control and when it comes to financial stability of the prisons, the administrations of justice as hardly taxed and stringing out budgets. The concept of a private prison would be a privately funded and privately run prison that, while maintaining the laws and the codes set forth by law, would not be a public government run prison.

While it is a fairly new concept, there are a lot of people who are for it and against it. With more insight into the pros and cons of a private prison system, you can make your own more informed decision should you ever be asked to weigh in.

What Are the Pros of Private Prisons?

1. High Financial Burden
It is widely known that the financial burden of running a prison is very high. Privately run prisons allow for lower administration costs, such as not having to hire government employees. In most cases prisons are run by management companies who hire out guards and staff. With a private company, they are using their own staff to do the same job, saving the tax payers and the justice system a lot of money.

2. Adds Effective Protection for Communities
It is believed that a private prison would allow for more effective protection of the neighborhood, more protection of the staff, and would provide better living conditions that many states battle. Smaller prisons with fewer prisons takes less of a toll on tax payers, staff and officials, and costs less to run than a mass sized prison. Instead of cutting back on needs, more money can be allocated to the departments and programs that need it most.

3. Increased Safety and Security
Most people would agree that a private prison allows for more safety and security for staff compared to a larger scale prison. In most cases, there is one guard for every 40 prisoners, whereas in a private prison the average number would be around one guard for every 5 to 10 prisoners, making it much safer ratio. This also allows for staff to maintain better awareness when there aren’t so many people to look after.

What Are the Cons of Private Prisons?

1. Difficulty with Funding
Getting funding to even begin private prisons would take a lot of time, money and resources that might not be available or be hard to find. Campaigns for this kind of project are even harder to run when there is little support.

2. Lack of Transparency
Government law requires transparency when it comes to state run prisons. If prisons were privately run, this would take away some of the transparency that is standard elsewhere.

While this list only touches on a few of the major pros and cons, there are many more that you can look into. Knowing what one are the most common though can give you a stronger argument to agree in.