Death row may go private in Arizona

Mirlyn

Well-Known Member
Death row may go private in Arizona

Arizona spends $4.7 million each year to house inmates in a super-maximum-security prison. But in a first in the criminal-justice world, the state's death-row inmates could become the responsibility of a private company.
source

Interesting idea.
 

valkyrie

Well-Known Member
In the article a politician states that the economy has put an urgency on the push for privatization of prisons. In fact I don't think that's the case. Many states have private companies managing their prison systems and have been for many years. This is nothing new. The economy might bring more people around to see the financial benefit to the state's coffers, but the subject has been on the table for quite some time.

I believe that placing prisons under the control of private companies can be beneficial to the budget. But these companies also need to be under strict regulation of the state, and as the article...
James Austin, a co-author of a Department of Justice study in 2001 on prison privatization and president of the JFA Institute, a corrections-consulting firm, said companies tend to oversee minimum- and medium-security inmates and have little experience with the most dangerous prisoners.
 

catocom

Well-Known Member
But these companies also need to be under strict regulation of the state.

my thoughts also

there's gotta be a way to prosecute Anyone that has Anything to do with this,
from being able to cohort/lobby/collaborate in any way with Any officials of the system of Law.

This Could be a very dangerous precedent if it's allowed to be corrupted in any way.

Nobody is being prosecuted now ...here...or even disiplined...:grumpy:
http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=224238
About 650 employees accepted gratuities from government vendors over the past two years, according to disclosure reports examined by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Many of those employees are bound by the ethics policy for state government's executive branch. But the newspaper reported that none of them have been disciplined for violations.
 

2minkey

bootlicker
This Could be a very dangerous precedent if it's allowed to be corrupted in any way.

well it's big government that gits corrupt. private companies are our moral leaders and beyond reproach, so i don't really understand any concern here. :eyebrow:
 

catocom

Well-Known Member
I smell sarcasm in several threads man, but it would be good imo, if more smilies were used. ;)
 

Winky

Well-Known Member
"Arizona is no stranger to private prisons. Nearly 30 percent of the state's prisoners are being held in prisons run
by firms outside the state's 10 complexes. Further, other states have contracts with companies to house their prisoners in Arizona."

It's a growth industry!

Private enterprise can do anything better than the government.
The taxpayer benefits, the prisoners actually get a better 'product'
it's a win-win all the way around!

Now if they could get the government out of the way and step up
production on death row the cost savings would be enormous.

I mean C'Mon, who is more deserving of
quick and expedient service than "Serial Shooter" Dale Hausner
 

2minkey

bootlicker
Now if they could get the government out of the way and step up
production on death row the cost savings would be enormous.

perhaps they could get leverage local expertise from the cattle industry on that one yeah!
 

Gonz

molṑn labé
Staff member
If it isn't against their Constitution, then so be it.

I'd actually prefer prisoners stay under the authority of the state. They were arrested, tried & convicted under public mandate, should prison be any different? In this case, you continue to hold the elected officials responsible.
 

Winky

Well-Known Member
no no no no no no no
Private enterprise can do anything better than goberment.
Case in point IS the higher quality product being produced
by the private prisons in AZ. They have to be accountable
AND make a profit.

Yeah Minks IF deserving dudes on death row were
whacked in an expedient manner, costs to house them would drop? heh heh
 

2minkey

bootlicker
Private enterprise can do anything better than goberment.


then why doesn't private industry do EVERYTHING in the US?

some things aren't so good at making money. but they need to be done anyway.

some things are utterly incompatible with rational/economic self-interest that drives much of our economy.

there are some things government should do. and among those there are many things it should do better. like equipping the military better. and making sure the business decision makers are not nipped in the ass by wildly unpredictable bullshit (like bank failures caused by wacky finance practices that nobody really understands).

i realize there is a strong ideological thing in the US that suggests that government is for the mediocre. shit de tocqueville said in the 1830s. and as long as that is the attitude... right, we really want do-nothing dipshits making laws... :beardbng:
 

valkyrie

Well-Known Member
"Arizona is no stranger to private prisons. Nearly 30 percent of the state's prisoners are being held in prisons run
by firms outside the state's 10 complexes. Further, other states have contracts with companies to house their prisoners in Arizona."

It's a growth industry!

Private enterprise can do anything better than the government.
The taxpayer benefits, the prisoners actually get a better 'product'
it's a win-win all the way around!

Now if they could get the government out of the way and step up
production on death row the cost savings would be enormous.

I mean C'Mon, who is more deserving of
quick and expedient service than "Serial Shooter" Dale Hausner
The 'Net is full of news stories on prison abuse scandals. I'm not sure I would want my tax money used to pay a private company to house a slave labor force to work on private, profitable projects or to be the prisoners' drug dealers.
If it isn't against their Constitution, then so be it.

I'd actually prefer prisoners stay under the authority of the state. They were arrested, tried & convicted under public mandate, should prison be any different? In this case, you continue to hold the elected officials responsible.
I agree with the premise of your argument. The original offense for which the prisoner was tried, convicted and sentenced was against the people/taxpayers and the prisoner should be serving that time to the people/taxpayers. Some may argue that the sentence is still being served no matter who houses the convicted offender.
 

Winky

Well-Known Member
“Why doesn't private industry do EVERYTHING in the US?”

I’d love too knee jerk to the vision Ayn Rand had:
that the only things Government should be involved in are those activities which
they are supposed to do, which is wield force to
to protect the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic.

If the government was limited to providing a court system
and a military which only wielded it’s power to protect U.S.
and not be a world police force, then yeah (dream on Winky)

“Some things aren't so good at making money. but they need to be done anyway.”

Anything that doesn’t make money isn’t wanted enough to be done?

OK yeah the interstate and local road system is a great thing for the government
to lord over but the education system should be privatized?
I say this due to my personal experience of sending my kid thur private school
1st thru 12th grades, I could go on for hours extolling the virtues of private educatin’
It was awesome that if a kid was a total douche he or she would be booted, heh
Sure there will always be a large portion of the proletariat that won’t take responsibility
for their children’s education, it simply wouldn’t do to have low skilled workers
being turned out by the education system, oh no wait heh heh

“some things are utterly incompatible with rational/economic self-interest that drives much of our economy.”

Name some economically irrational things? plz ;) We could run a thread for days on that one.
Irrational/illogical? jeebus even WoW makes money!

"…like equipping the military better."

Private defense contractors equip the military, anyone need an $800.00 hammer?
I’m OK with that, if it keeps bad guys from raping my wife and stealing my cookies.

I know Rand’s epistemology won’t work in todays world.
for Christs sake, not on a planet where most people still believe in ghosts and deities
but it doesn’t invalidate the concrete truth of the philosophy.

A mixed economy will not stay mixed for long, witness the
screaming slew rate towards State control we see today.
 

spike

New Member
some things are utterly incompatible with rational/economic self-interest that drives much of our economy.

Yeah, there was a private juvenile facility that actually paid of judges to send more kids there. Then they kept them there longer than they were actually sentenced because keep in the facility full made more money.

Many things aren't compatible with the greed/profit motive.
 

Gonz

molṑn labé
Staff member
I know Rand’s epistemology won’t work in todays world.
for Christs sake, not on a planet where most people still believe in ghosts and deities
but it doesn’t invalidate the concrete truth of the philosophy.

It may not work on absolutes, but using it as a base & every decision is made from that base, is a far better use of tax money & governemtnal authority than the current model.
 
Top