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Beware the reformers

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Illinois

Last Thursday, private prison stocks dropped like a rock when the Department of Justice announced that it would be phasing out its use of for-profit detention facilities. If you were an investor who had no ethical qualms about profiting from an industry that’s been accused of perpetrating a number of human rights abuses, it would have been a good time to buy. It turns out that reports of the industry’s imminent death have been greatly exaggerated.

Experts who track the business tell The Nation that as mass-incarceration reform has become a bipartisan issue, private prison companies large and small have seen the writing on the wall, and are aggressively moving into alternatives to imprisonment. In fact, they say, the very same companies that have traditionally lobbied hard for tough-on-crime policies that would assure their facilities a steady flow of warm bodies are now embracing the language of criminal-justice reform as they reach out into what they see as more lucrative markets.

“These companies know what they’re doing,” says Christopher Petrella, a lecturer at Bates College who studies the industry. “They’re agile, they follow market trends, and they know where the growth is.” According to Petrella, two of the biggest companies—GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)—“have really pivoted to diversify their services away from traditional incarceration. They’ve both invested heavily in the past five or six years in prisoner rehabilitation services, mental health centers, residential reentry programs and monitoring technologies for supervised release.” These are all areas that are expected to grow as efforts to reduce the prison population gain traction. Until eight or nine years ago, these companies could have relied on partisan gridlock to maintain the status quo, but as conservatives have come to embrace the issue, their future as jailers has started to look less bright.

“It’s really clear looking at mergers and acquisitions that this is where the big companies like CCA and GEO are headed,” says Caroline Isaacs, program director of the American Friends Service Committee’s Tucson office, and the author of several reports on the industry. “And then there are a whole host of other companies that are sort of popping up to fill in the field.”

To be clear here, I’m all for criminal justice reform. And there are certainly areas where not-for-profit groups should be participating. And that goes for profit-seeking companies as well, as long as they’re properly monitored. Problems with that private industry are legion, so they need to be watched closely.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Aug 25, 16 @ 10:57 am

Comments

The evils of the “for-profit” prison companies far outweigh any good. Time for them to go. Too many bad outcomes.

Comment by Albany Park Patriot Thursday, Aug 25, 16 @ 11:07 am
What a perfect plan.
Annihilate not-for-profit social service organizations and then push ‘reforms’ just as private jail mega-companies corner the post-reform industry market.
Wow.

Comment by northsider (the original) Thursday, Aug 25, 16 @ 11:16 am
Same plan is in place for nursing homes, health care, education, etc. See also: Raunerism

Comment by MSIX Thursday, Aug 25, 16 @ 11:20 am
Nice (and by “nice” I mean “not at all nice”).

Comment by Dome Gnome Thursday, Aug 25, 16 @ 11:20 am
Companies like this one, maybe?

GTCR became an investor in Correct Care Solutions (”CCS”) in 2014 through the strategic combination of CCS and former GTCR portfolio company Correctional Healthcare Companies, Inc. (”CHC”). CCS is a leading comprehensive healthcare solutions provider to local, county and state correctional and behavioral facilities. CCS’s integrated healthcare solutions address a wide range of client and correctional needs, including inmate healthcare, outpatient treatment, mental health, behavioral programming and treatment case management services.
Initial Investment: 12/02/2012
http://www.gtcr.com/investments/healthcare/?=company-correct-care-solutions

Comment by northsider (the original) Thursday, Aug 25, 16 @ 11:28 am
I think profiteering on Health Care, Human Services and Prisons is inappropriate. Some things for the good of society need to stay in the governmental and Non-Profit arena. Just look at the epipen debacle.

Comment by independent Thursday, Aug 25, 16 @ 11:47 am
– so they need to be watched closely.–

Need to be watched AND REGULATED closely

Comment by Honeybear Thursday, Aug 25, 16 @ 12:24 pm
=Just look at the epipen debacle.=

Yes and if we had government controlled healthcare and development the epipen along with countless other medicines likely wouldn’t exist.

Comment by Robert the 1st Thursday, Aug 25, 16 @ 2:11 pm
So Robert do you think the increase in the cost of the epipen was ok? Profit and healthcare shouldnt go together. Its immoral.

I look at the private prisons in the same way. They are profiting off of crime

Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Aug 25, 16 @ 2:30 pm
No, did I imply I did? Nutrition and transportation are important too. Are private airlines and food manufacturers immoral as well if they turn a profit? Where does the line get drawn.

Comment by Robert the 1st Thursday, Aug 25, 16 @ 2:36 pm
Dont be silly. You want a line drawn? Healthcare. There’s the line. Profit in healthcare disgusts me.

Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Aug 25, 16 @ 3:18 pm
The bottom line is that prisons shouldnt be run by private companies without significant oversight if they run them at all. I personally dont think its appropriate to outsource locking people up. I think there are some things that should be the job of the govt. This is one of those things

Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Aug 25, 16 @ 3:22 pm
“Need to be watched AND REGULATED closely.”

Honeybear I agree with you, but Rauner does not believe in government regulating or watching over private businesses.

Comment by Mama Thursday, Aug 25, 16 @ 3:46 pm
===Yes and if we had government controlled healthcare and development the epipen along with countless other medicines likely wouldn’t exist.===

I was reading this morning that this device was invented using 100% taxpayer money via a defense contract.

Comment by yinn Thursday, Aug 25, 16 @ 5:35 pm