The Case Against the Privatization of Prisons Essay

The Case Against the Privatization of Prisons - Essay Example As per the dogmas affiliated to the classical and modern economics, the privatization of the government institutions seems to be just the right choice in the contemporary scenario. However, the vital point is that should economic and financial considerations be the only criteria through which the relevance of state and public institutions be gauged Should the important public facilities like the schools, health facilities, education and prisons be left at the mercy of the private sector corporations Certainly it will be utterly myopic to wear the spectacles of economics to access the importance of very vital state institutions like prisons. The prisons in any society are very important social and political institutions. Infact the scope and ambit of prisons as a social institution is utterly different from other institutions like hospitals and schools. So far as other institutions in any dynamic society are concerned, they happen to be primarily service oriented and their efficacy and worth is judged on the basis of the quality of services extended by them. The prisons tend to differ in the sense that they primarily give expression to the collective conscience of a society. The way a society treats and takes care of its offenders is a direct picture of its ethical moorings and value system. The need to rehabilitate the offenders, to take ample steps to bring them back into the national mainstream is something that comes within the purview of the social responsibilities of a nation and demands a considerable sense of responsibility, commitment and involvement. Any attempt to define prisons as institutions where prisoner s reside or are kept in confinement will be utterly narrow and short sighted. Infact, the prisons should be treated more as rehabilitation facilities that primarily exist for the purpose of giving the offenders a chance to serve their sentences and at the same time to facilitate them with just the right kind of environment so as to help them to become better persons and to ensure their assimilation back into the social mainstream. Considering this factor, the contemporary trend towards the privatization of prisons leaves massive scope for doubting the ability and intentions of the private corporations taking over the prisons, to fulfill this onerous social responsibility by allocating requisite funds and resources.The privatization of the prisons is not a new trend. The federal and state governments had already initiated the policy of the privatization of the facilities managed by them a long time ago. Such services primarily included medical facilities, food processing, education a nd vocational training. However, this panache for privatization achieved unprecedented heights with the newfound state predilection for the privatization of the prisons in the late 80s. A great many factors were responsible for this trend. However, the major reason that ultimately convinced the federal and the state governments in favor of the privatizat