Private Prisons

Private Prisons and Public Accountability

Professor Richard Harding

Private prisons have become an integral part of the penal system in the USA, the UK and Australia. Already, there are over 100 such prisons, and with prisoner numbers contemning to increase rapidly the trend towards privatisation seems irreversible. In this context the following questions must be address:
 
Can private prisons make a positive contribution to providing custody for offenders?

Do private prisons stimulate improvement within the public prison system?

What are the difficulties with the regulation and accountability of private prisons?

This book sets out to explore the contribution private prisons may make to custodial practices, standards and objectives. The hypothesis is that, properly regulated and fully accountable, private prisons could lead to improvement within the public prison system, which has for so long been degenerate and demoralised. In this regard, the total prison system should be seen as a single entity, with two service delivery components: public and private. The Challenge is to ensure that cross-fertilisation between those two components actually takes place. However, none of the positive effects will flow unless there is effective accountability of the private sector component.

The main focus of the book is upon experience in the USA, the UK and Australia. The fieldwork in each of these countries has been undertaken extensively, and the study has been drawn upon not just published literature but in-house documentation, discussions with public and private authorities, and a range of government documents. The approach is thematic rather than comparative. Key issues such as overcrowding, programme delivery, prisoners' right, quality of staff and financial control are identified and illustrative materials is brought forward from one or more of the main countries examined.

The importance of this book goes beyond its immediate topic. It is a significant addition to the criminal justice literature but will also appeal as a contribution to social policy in general and to the growing privatisation literature that spans several academic fields

The book was published by the Open University Press.