Prior to the 1980s, private prisons didn’t exist in the United States. But thanks to the Reagan administration’s War on Drugs, which led to harsher sentencing policies and higher rates of incarceration, the inmate population skyrocketed beyond the capacity of the nation’s existing prisons, a fact that corporations were quick to take advantage of. In 1984, the country’s first for-profit prison was established in Tennessee, and over the next six years, it was joined by 66 more. Currently there are over 26 states that house private prisons which charge the state for the housing and care of each incarcerated prisoner. Currently the two big corporations of privatized prisons are “Core Civic” and the “GEO Group.”
Please answer the following questions:
A. List three advantages and three disadvantages of a private prison
B. Locate and Identify a “private prison” in the United States (A simple internet search will help) and answer the following:
a. List the name and provide the location
b. What company owns the group?
c. Roughly how many prisoners are housed there?
d. Any other important information… low/medium/high rick security? Riots? Issues?