In America, we have decided that we should privatize prison because the free market is better than the government. But for some reason, the free market decided that the lives and welfare of prisoners aren't important. People in private prisons live in terrible conditions, receive little to no support in reintegration, and have their constitutional rights violated almost routinely.
For example a Federal Judge ordered a private prison closed because and I quote "The Court understands completely why the DOJ would conclude that the sexual misconduct occurring at [Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility], including "brazen" staff sexual misconduct and brutal youth-on-youth rapes, was "among the worst that we have seen in any facility anywhere in the nation."
The opinion further stated, "WGYCF has allowed a cesspool of unconstitutional and inhuman acts and conditions to germinate, the sum of which places the offenders at substantial ongoing risk."
All of this to say Parchman is not an outlier in the American Correctional System. Private prisons like the ones in Mississippi and Louisiana, engage in practices that rightly seem immoral and unjust, yet no is motivated to do anything about it.
https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/order_approving_settlement_2012_walnut_grove.pdf
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3 comments:
Prisons are meant to have two purposes to punish and to rehabilitate. Private prisons go against these two purposes by having only one true purpose: turning a profit. Private prisons have no other goal than to make money therefore it goes against their own interests to rehabilitate people, for it loses them potential inmates. They actively work against the rehabilitation of inmates in order to have those same prisoners return and become repeat customers. Although the conditions in Parchman are bad, the people in the prison are unfortunately some of the lucky ones. As we saw in the documentary, the people in the prison are actively taught marketable skills, something that rarely happen in private prisons. Despite the poor conditions at Parchman the people there are unfortunately better off than others in private prisons. This disparity is a stain on the American justice system.
I agree that the modern prison system is flawed and in need of a complete makeover. They do not rehabilitate and only wish for there to be more prisoners so they can make more money. Almost all of the prisoners that serve their sentences wind up back in prison. The U.S. should try to adopt the prison systems of other countries like in Europe. I think Jesmyn use of Parchman was to show how bad the prison system in America was in the past and how bad it is today
Public prisons, such as Parchman, are notorious for their lack of funding and substandard conditions. However, private prisons are no different. Private prisons, which saw a surge in number in the 1980s, are paid per prisoner on a regular basis by the government to incarcerate prisoners. Since private prisons can decide which prisoners to accept, they generally choose less violent criminals who are in turn less expensive to hold in prison. For this reason, prisoners with severe physical or mental health conditions are generally denied by private prisons. Also, as private prisons are run for profit, there is a likelihood of less staff per prisoner in a private prison. This results in a higher percentage of violence in private prisons as compared to public prisons.
Thus, the two prison systems are flawed in many ways, and reform is necessary in order
to give prisoners adequate living standards.
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