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said Greene. "But if you measure the two systems, these types of problems are simply higher on the private side than on the public side."(5)

Private Prisons - Limited Uses
Having "been there and done that" at state and federal prisons for over twenty years, I believe in the value of public corrections and a well-trained cadre of correctional workers with an elevated esprit de corps. Private prisons, run by corporations, owe their allegiance to the bottom line. To quote again from the AFSCME report, "The case against prison privatization is clear. The profit motive does not improve prison operation, nor does it save the taxpayer money. In fact, prison privatization creates incentives to "grow" the prison population, pushing up long-term prison costs. Prison privatization decreases public accountability, while increasing opportunities for waste, fraud and corruption."(3)

Just as we don't privatize the military or the police force, it is an inherent duty of government to provide for the safety of society by building and running prisons. As the AFSCME report states, "The bottom line for sworn state and local correctional officers is to protect our communities from those who are behind prison bars."(3) I know this to be true having served in the military and in public corrections. Public corrections is answerable to elected officials, has oversight by any number of agencies, and has a long history of keeping the public safe by keeping inmates where they belong.

Bibliography
1."Prison Inmates at Midyear 2007." Bureau of Justice Statistics report. June 2008. W.J. Sabol, Ph.D. and H. Couture. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/p ub/pdf/pim07.pdf

2."Private prison." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 8 Jul 2008, 07:46 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 16 Jul 2008 .

3."Should Crime Pay?" AFSCME Publications. http://afscme.org/publications /1244.cfm

4. "Weighing the Watchmen: Evaluating the Costs and Benefits of Outsourcing Correctional Services". January 2002. By Geoffrey F. Segal and Adrian T. Moore.Reason Public Policy Institute. http://www.reason.org/correcti ons/

5."Sparks fly over private vs public prisons". 20 Feb 2002. Christian Bourge, UPI Think Tank Correspondent. Prison Policy Initiative. http://www.prisonpolicy.org/sc ans/sparksfly.shtml

Learn more about this author, Jeff Vidrine.
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