Private Prisons

Byron E. Price

The Bureau of Justice Statistics designates a prison as private when the facility is privately owned or operated. This definition of private prison includes detention centers, jails, and other correctional facilities that hold adults and, in a growing number of cases, juveniles. It also includes halfway houses, work farms, and specialized jail facilities such as medical, treatment, and release centers. Temporary facilities where inmates are transferred out within a 72-hour period are not included in the bureau's definition of private prisons. The demand for prison cells in the United States swelled in the mid- to late 1970s and into the 1980s for several reasons: 1. Increased rates of immigration and violent crime, such as murder, rape, and robbery— much of the violent crime concomitant with immigration is ascribed to increased smuggling, higher smuggling fees, and the inability of migrants to pay those fees. According to Alan Bersin, many of 2. ...

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