Private prisons have become an integral part of the penal system
in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. There
already are over 100 such prisons in these countries, and with the
number of prisoners continuing to increase rapidly, the trend
toward privatization seems irreversible. In this context, Richard
Harding addresses the following issues: the contributions, positive
or negative, that private prisons make to providing custody for
offenders; whether or not private prisons stimulate improvement
within the public prison system; and the difficulties with the
regulation and accountability of private prisons.
This book sets out to explore the contribution of private
prisons to custodial practices, standards, and objectives. Many
experts believe that, properly regulated and fully accountable,
private prisons could lead to improvement within the public prison
system, which has long been degenerate and demoralized. Harding
sees the total prison system as a single entity, with two
components: public and private. He relies upon extensive fieldwork
and draws upon published literature as well as in-house
documentation, discussions with public and private authorities, and
a range of government documents.
Key issues covered in Private Prisons and Public Accountability
are: overcrowding, program delivery, prisoners' rights, quality of
staff, and financial control. This volume will be a significant
addition to the criminal justice literature, but it will also
appeal to sociologists, policymakers, and scholars interested in
the privatization of various institutions in our society.
General
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