Summary on America's Private Prison System. Free Essay.

Citation

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Filipovic, J. (2013). America's private prison system is a national disgrace. Retrieved September 01, 2016, from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/13/aclu-lawsuit-east-mississippi-correctional-facility.

Issue: Poor living conditions in the prisons and gross violation of human rights of the prisoners

Thesis: The American correctional department should focus more on rehabilitation aspect of the prisons and less on the incarceration aspect because it would encourage renewal of mind of the prisoners who would contribute to the building of the economy thereafter.

Summary

In Jill Filipovics opinion post on crime in the United States, she argues that the American private prisons have significantly worse conditions for inmates than the public prisons due to a significant lack of resources and oversight. She explains that the private prison system does not fulfill its primary function to make use of the government funds efficiently while justifying the heavy burden of high incarceration rates of public prisons in the United States. The prisoners accuse the companies which control the prisons of negligence about many serious issues. The private prison environment is much more dangerous for the prisoners than in the government facilities; there are so many cases of violence such as sexual assaults, stabbings, and beatings among others. Furthermore, the guards deal with violence with even more violence. Jill first addresses the mental health issue referring to the recent lawsuit against the private prisons filled on behalf of the inmates. The conditions in private prisons are very unhygienic and lead to the numerous health problems, while the staff does not try to improve the situation. The cells are often full of waste, so the prisoners have to deal with rats and insects. Inmates have little health care; many prisoners with severe mental health conditions receive insufficient treatment from the medical staff. Many of them receive no proper medication and commit suicide because doctors do not care about their situation. To this extent, Jill addresses that inmates with minor offences often have difficulties in their rehabilitation. When they have to face to same conditions as the major criminals and interact with the latter on a daily basis. The major cause of this issue is the opportunity of exploitation for profit that presents itself for owners of private prisons Jill Filipovics expounds that the companies which manage the facilities always try to minimize the expenditures and maximize the prison population. She maintains that the private contractors thrive in the current situation of an unprecedentedly high prison population in the US, and use the money of the American taxpayers for their own benefit. Therefore, argues that unless the government starts to take measures to reduce the incarceration rates in the United States, the private prisons will continue to exploit the government finances.

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