The Privatization of Juvenile Facilities

• In Event: Issues in Juvenile Corrections: Declining Numbers, Community Alternatives, Privatization, and Visitation

Abstract

The privatization of correctional facilities in the United States has become a lucrative corporate business as well as a financial benefit for the states utilizing these facilities. It is argued that private prisons can provide better and faster services at a less expensive rates when government financial resources are limited. The issue has also become a topic of limited research into the benefits and detriments of the corporations maintaining the facilities and the reasoning why states are taking juveniles out of state control and placing them under the rule of an entity created for financial gain. This research focuses on the states that are utilizing the availability of privately owned juvenile facilities, and financial saving of those states. Additionally the availability of services for juveniles housed in private facilities will be compared to those housed in state owned facilities.

Authors

• Thomas Grayland McConnell, North Carolina Central University

• Iesha Shonta' Bryant, North Carolina Central University

• Lorna E. Grant, North Carolina Central University