The Privatization Of Punishment: Justification, Expectations, And Experience

Interest in the privatization of the American correctional system has increased dramatically during the current decade. A number of arguments have been advanced to justify the transfer of correctional responsibilities from the public to the private sector. As with any reform movement, the reasons adduced in support of the movement should be reflected by the policies and practices that are adopted to operationalize the reform. This paper briefly describes the major rationales adduced to justify privatization, then projects the kinds of policies and practices that would be anticipated in view of these rationales. These projections are compared to the actual experience of the privatization movement during the 1980s. The analysis suggests the existence of a considerable lack of fit between expected and actual policies and prac-tices adopted in the process of privatization. Several explanations for this lack of fit are considered. CJPR, VOL. 3, NO. 1, 3/89,!UP During the present decade a substantial amount of attention has been directed toward consideration of the privatization of various traditional func-tions of government (e.g., transportation, trash collection, health services, etc.). An increasing portion of this interest has focused on privatization of the American correctional system. This attention has assumed a variety of different forms. The federal government has commissioned a number of studies designed to examine the feasibility of correctional privatization (e.g., Camp and Camp, 1984; Sexton et al., 1985; Hackett et al., 1986). State Govern-ments have encouraged inquiries from private companies interested in assum