Jails or Prisons, Essay Example

There is a difference between a jail and a prison, although both are designed to hold people in isolation away from society at large and away from living lives of complete freedom. Jails hold those who are accused of committing crimes and are waiting for trials and those who have been sentenced by the courts to brief periods of incarceration. Jails come under the jurisdiction of local sheriffs’ departments. People who have been convicted of crimes and are sentenced to longer periods are sent to prisons that are run by state corrections departments.

Currently, a movement is underway that seeks to privatize prisons. As with most issues, there are pros and cons of doing this. There is a growing trend in this country of private firms taking on functions where the government once held sway. Prisons are no exception. Those who argue for the proliferation of this trend say that private concerns are much more efficient and cost effective. Those who are opposed to governmental back down from prison operation contend that private prisons fail to correct market failures (Morris, 2007) and actually create more problems than they solve.

Both sides agree that running prisons is an expensive proposition and that there is opportunity for money to be wasted. Surely, privatization is not the answer at every turn where the government finds a thing difficult to manage. Conversely, privatization surely cannot expect to operate prisons in the same ways as the government. After all, if the government is going to impose the same restrictions on private firms as it does on itself, then should it not continue to operate prisons just as it has done in the past?  Making private operational entities behave like the government makes the private firms “government-like,” which defeats the whole purpose of its existence.

Reference

Morris, J. (2007). Government and market pathologies of privatization: The case of prison privatization. Politics & Policy, 35(2), 318-341.