Private Prisons – Are they worth the
Risks?
July 17, 2015
The recent riot at the Management Training Corporation
ASPC-Kingman prison complex keeps bringing back the same questions over and
over again. Since the opening window back in 1984, private prison contractors
have expanded their grip on governments seeking to save money on prison related
costs. This caused corporations such as Corrections Corporation of America
(CCA), GEO Group, and Management Training Corporation (MTC) to spread out their
territory and capture a majority of the industrial prison complex. Without a
doubt, CCA is the better of the three as their commitment to public safety
exceeds those of the others. This is based on their dedicated training programs
and involvement in the communities.
A lucrative business,
many states, including Arizona have been tempted doing business via a hybrid
governance that has yet to be perfected and solidified with positive and
gainful results. Well over a 3 billion dollar a year industry, one would expect
constant and beneficial logistical and operational improvements in their
services but unfortunately, the opposite is true. For the sake of pleasing
stockholders and maintaining a pre-determined profit margin, these prison for
profit organizations and secretly operated corporations are risking public
safety at the cost of their profit making strategies and schemes.
This impacts many areas including economic and social stabilities
in those communities they seek to do business in. since the lack of
transparency and accountability is present, it is difficult to measure
effectiveness and performance standards that appear to be deficient in
acceptable levels whenever a crisis occurs.
Suggesting that the privatization of prisons is an economically
lucrative corporate venture it is reported as well as purported to provide
taxpayers a cost savings of up to 20% annually due to lower wage and benefit
costs for labor, lower procurement costs, and a more and efficient administrative
operation that often operates without the close scrutiny or monitoring agreed
upon when the contracts are signed and delivered.
Conflicting research findings make it difficult to
accurately assess cost and performance and since the Arizona Department of
Corrections has done away with cost comparison studies in 2010, there is no
accurate method to determine value and benefits of such partnerships. Cost
Savings –those who favor privatization claim that private prisons are more cost
effective because they operate more efficiently.
A careful review of the research conducted over the scope of
more than twenty years or more, reveals a clear consensus that when all cost
factors are included in the analysis, the available evidence does not support
the contention that private corrections are more cost-effective or efficient
than those publicly operated. However, under current conditions, Arizona is
obligated to fulfill its legal responsibilities to fill the contracts as
signed.
A 1998 report found no evidence of greater efficiency
reported in studies conducted at that point in time (Cheung, 2004). Similarly,
a BJA study found no evidence of greater cost savings, improved services, or
conditions of confinement in private prisons, and the rate of major incidents
was higher (Austin & Coventry, 2001:38 & 57). The Legislature needs to
pay attention to this category of “major incidents” as traditionally, many
disturbances are downplayed to be minor in nature but often not linked to other
institutional problems thus isolating the severity and events deliberately.
There is no denial ASPC Kingman has been problematic – the facts
illustrated a severe breach of security in the 2010 escape of three convicted
murderers who while fugitives, killed an innocent couple in New Mexico just to
facilitate more resources for their escape status. Since 2010, after the DOC
promised better oversight, there have been numerous deaths, disturbances, and
other serious operational flaws reported.
There appears to be a distinct disconnect between profit
strategy and the public safety strategy. Essentially, it comes down to the fact
these business are in the market for profits and money, and thus, it is safe to
say, they are going to take some shortcuts when they can (Mattera, Khan, and
Nathan, 2003:15).
Litigation assessments of the cost of incarceration must
also consider the economic consequences of litigation. Private prison
corporations have been the subject of numerous lawsuits stemming from charges
of abuse, violence, negligence, wrongful death, and other factors related to
mismanagement. There are several large claims outstanding on the Kingman
complex not yet resolved and it is with some level of certainty, this recent
riot will add fuel to the contention, ASPC Kingman is unsafe and in dire need
of an overhaul.
Rising litigation and its accompanying costs are evidenced
in CCA’s annual report to the Securities Exchange Commission (2010:53). Despite
an admittance of negligent responsibility for the escapes, it took eight months
and a threat to terminate MTC’s contract before the security defects were
corrected by the company. Other security breaches included burned-out perimeter
lights, other broken security equipment, and a lax, high-turnover culture in
which MTC’s green, undertrained staff and rookie supervisors ignored alarms,
left long gaps between patrols of the perimeter, left doors leading out of some
buildings open and unwatched, didn’t alert the state or local police until
hours after the escape, and failed in all manner of basic security practices
(Ortega, 2011).
The problem appears to be deeper as there is a cultural and
operational culture that seems to conclude “their use of less costly employees
produced a less than acceptable level of public safety or inmate care and that
“privately operated prisons appear to have systemic problems in maintaining secure
facilities [which] can reflect problems in policy and procedures, in
technology, and in staff capabilities.”
The “greener” aka less experienced workforce, contributes to
the fact there are more likely more future security lapses in these fundamental
security procedures. The “greenness” of the workforce may pertain not only to
line staff, but to midlevel supervisory staff as well (Camp & Gaes, 2001:16).
Executive staff were also found to be “ineffective” and lacking a basic
understanding of their roles and responsibilities (AZDOC Report on Kingman
Escapes, 2010:6). This is a discerning issue not addressed in a persistent and
sustained manner by current Arizona Department of Corrections executive staff.
Hence, there are lapses of contractual oversights that may contribute to such
operational and facility failures. This may not be the case for other
facilities that are run and operated more efficiently and with more of a commitment
to public safety and training of staff.
Staffing Vacancies and excessive turnover is a constant problem.
The day after the Kingman riot, MTC posted job vacancies on the web in a late
attempt to show active recruitment for staff. . It is well accepted in the
research that private prisons lower costs through paying lower wages and
benefits. Consequently, staff vacancies are a problem common to private prisons
that is directly linked to institutional safety and the provision of effective
services necessary to reduce recidivism. It is not unusual for private prisons
to run a vacancy rate of 15 to 20 % at times while their turnover rates average
as high as 53 % in comparison to state prison statistics.
To put this into a more understandable perspective, when you
combine a 15 per cent vacancy rate with a 30 per cent “green” or less
experienced work force, you are running the facility at 55 per cent efficiency.
This is a very low standard to allow or permit and the
Arizona Department of Corrections should have actively pursued arguments to
raise the efficiency rate above 70 per cent and match their own public prison
vacancy rates so that the ASPC Kingman complex was operating at an acceptable
operational efficiency rate. One has to wonder how such a low performance rate
could pass the annual audit standards of the Arizona Department of Corrections.
A study conducted for the Bureau of Prisons on the
effectiveness and quality of federal private prisons concluded: “Given the
apparent relationship between staff separations, staff experience, and inmate misconduct,
private companies must either adopt a new innovative strategy towards
corrections, or they will have to increase pay and/or benefits to attract and
retain experienced employees. MTC has not pursued such innovative strategies
and is lagging behind in accomplishing such a feat any time soon.
Advocates of prison privatization have argued that private prisons
can pay workers less, offer fewer benefits, and still deliver a product that is
as good or better than that provided by the public sector. The evidence to date
contradicts such an encompassing assertion (Camp & Gaes, 2001:16).” Of
greatest concern is the indisputable fact that private prisons exist to make a
profit. It is in their economic interests to reduce costs by maintaining full
facilities, reducing staff wages and benefits, reducing institutional expenses
associated with safety and sanitation, and reducing critical care services and
programming.
These cost-saving measures come
at the expense of institutional and public safety, and hold the potential for negative
publicity and more costly lawsuits. Maintaining full facilities gives private
corporations a vested interest in influencing legislative policies that encourage
the use of greater and longer incarceration. There is less incentive to reduce
recidivism or release the less dangerous inmates and those amenable to
rehabilitation to community programming and supervision. However, that is a
subject for future discussions of reducing prison costs and lowering prison
populations.
Reference materials cited from: An Assessment of the Risks
and Benefits of Prison Privatization. Prepared for the Citizens’ Advisory Board
of the New Hampshire State Prison for Women by: Elaine Rizzo, Ph.D., Professor
of Criminal Justice, Saint Anselm College Margaret Hayes, Ph.D., RN, Associate
Professor of Nursing, Science and Health, Regis College January 30, 2012
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