My first reaction to why anyone would want to run a privately-operated prison is revulsion. However, looking at it realistically, making a living from someone else's troubles happens everywhere in our society. Look at the sleazy lawyer ads on TV. And what about police and firefighters? And doctors? And undertakers? Seeing it that way, the list can go on and on. And, so it is with Corrections Corporation of America and similar companies. They make money from other people's miseries, too.

The owners of private prisons are not in the business to serve humanity. The institutions are all run by corporations, and they are intended and operated as profit-making enterprises. In addition to income from government funding, the private prisons make money on convict labor. It includes manufacturing, computer services, road repairs and other income-producing activities. The convicts housed by private prisons are carefully chosen from among those with relatively short sentences, and because they've not been involved in violent crimes. They are considered more motivated to learn and work responsibly than they would be under the traditional prison guard system and other intimidating constraints.

To many people, the idea of prison labor conjures up the images of the brutal slave labor camps of Germany and Japan during World War II, and in the Gulags of the former Soviet Union. However, because American private prisons are closely monitored by the government and business compliance agencies, the chance of overtly cruel treatment is minimal.

On the other hand, many business people and social scientists believe private prisons are actually beneficial to society, as well as less stressful for the inmates. First, as in all government vs private business comparisons, it is highly likely that the CCA costs the taxpayers less money than the usual bureaucracy of government operations. The private owners are in business to make a profit, so spending will be considerably more controlled than it would if government were involved.

I believe the jury is still out as to whether privately-run prisons are more humane and more economical. They haven't been around long enough, and they haven't taken over enough of the prison systems to form any positive or negative comparisons with the traditional government-run institutions. However, having spent a lifetime of dealing with and paying for our governments, from city on up to national, we have nothing to lose by letting the experiment continue.

Learn more about this author, Ted Sherman.
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