The conservative case against private prisons
When prisons are privatized, the operators stand to gain from
(1) the highest possible incidence of crime,
(2) the widest possible definition of crime,
(3) the lowest possible standard of proof for obtaining criminal convictions, assisted by the highest possible incidence of, and the weakest possible safeguards against, investigative and prosecutorial malpractice, and
(4) the longest possible sentences for persons so convicted of crimes so defined.
It might be said that even if the government runs the prisons, the employees of the prison system stand to gain in job security from a higher prison population. But in that case the employer—the government—has an incentive to minimize the prison population in order to minimize the cost. In contrast, when prisons are privatized, not only the employees but also the employers stand to gain from a higher prison population; and the employers will reinvest some of their taxpayer-funded profits in political lobbying and campaigning, in order to grow at taxpayers' expense. When the growth is in prisons, the threat to the taxpayers is not only to their hard-earned money, but also to their freedom and their good names.
