Private Prisons An Overview

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The Market

An example of the cost of corrections is of forty five correctional systems in the U.S. collectively reported their departmental budgets for 2006-2007 the amount was $37,315,576,903. It was deemed necessary to house the 1.2 million inmates in their charge(1 ).

Americas prison population has boomed, it went from 740,000 in 1985 to 2.1 million in 2003. The effect of this boom is 90,000 inmates are now housed in private prisons in 2003 (2 ).

The players

What is the reality of Americas private prison system? This system has two major players. Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). The other was known as Wackenhut Corrections but is now known as The Geo Group.

Thomas Beasley, a Tennessee entrepreneur involved in real estate, insurance and Republican politics, formed the largest of the private prison operations in the US, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), in 1983. This 10 million dollar venture was funded largely by a Nashville venture capital firm, Massey Burch Investment Group (3 ).

The other operator is (or was) called Wackenhut Corrections. Wackenhut Corrections was formed by George Wackenhut a former F.B.I. agent. Wackenhut private prison operations is a subsidiary of Wackenhut 's private security service, which made it big 40 years ago by gaining contracts to guard Americas nuclear waste dumps (4). George Wackenhut sold Wackenhut Corp for $570 million in 2002 to a Danish firm called Group 4 Falck. Wackenhut's yearly revenue at the time of sale was 3 billion (5 ). In 2003 the new owners, asked formerly asked the stockholders for a name change to The Geo Group Inc(6 ). George Wackenhut died on New Year's Eve 2005 of heart failure(7 ),

Effectiveness

A reality could be the lowest bidder could guard many of "Americas Most Wanted" with guards who have wages that match McDonald's. Middle Tennessee State University criminologist Frank Lee said ``Private prisons don't work,'' (8).