Inmate concerns

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Another problem that has plagued private prisons is that recreation and rehabilitative programs can be "grossly inadequate."(1).

Consider, many of the inmates who are now are in prison are victims of deinstitutionalization(2 ). They were released from mental institutions. This was to prevent abuse of Institutionalized patients. Wouldn't these people and the public in general be best served in a therapeutic setting(3)? How will the mentally ill be treated in a private prison? What of the safety of fellow inmates from violently mentally ill inmates? Or mentally ill inmates might be taken advantage of by other inmates? Remember all of this will be "overseen" by the lowest bidder who offers "McDonald's" like wages(4 ).

An independent audit over a riot at Wackenhut Corrections facility in Santa Rosa New Mexico found the Wackenhut facility had building deficiencies and a lack of experienced staff. An Auditor said The state was also partly to blame because ."We had inmates in those institutions who frankly shouldn't have been there," (5 ).

Private prisons can have a more lax employment screening system. Some have had publicly filed abuse cases before they where hired(6 ).

After scandals of sex between guards and inmates, and escapes, Broward County Florida Sheriff's spokesman Jim Leljedal said "What we're hoping for is a more performance-based contract,"(7 ).

Two CCA correctional officers at the Correction Treatment Facility (CTF) in Washington DC, were arrested on federal bribery charges. It is believed they also smuggled in ipods and cell phones to inmates (8 ).

A former supervisor at a minimum-security private prison in Beattyville Kentucky was charged with four counts of marijuana smuggling at the Lee Adjustment Center(9 ).

Wackenhut ran a private prison in Texas called Travis County Community Justice Center. A former female inmate said sex was routinely traded for things like shampoo and underwear. She was raped one night by a guard while she was dope up on psychiatric medication. She was assaulted by prisons guards to prevent her from reporting the crime. Only after she made a court appearance heavily bruised and emaciated did an investigation begin. Sexual assault was not uncommon at this institution. Former private prison guards and a manger indicted for sexually assaulting or harassing 16 female inmates for the years 1998 and 1999(10 ).