Identify some pros and cons of jail privatization?
Should our jails be moving towards more privatization? Why or why not?
Using key terms from the textbook chapter:
Bail: A written obligation with or without collateral security, given to a court to guarantee appearance before the court.
Pretrial Detainee: A defendant who is held in jail prior to their trial on criminal charges because no bail is posted or bail is denied.
Jails: Locally operated correctional facilities that confine people before or after conviction.
Total admission: The total number of people admitted to jail each year.
Average daily population (ADP): Sum of the number of inmates in a jail or prison each day for a year, divided by the total number of days in the year.
First-generation jail: Jail with multiple-occupancy cells or dormitories that line corridors arranged like spokes. Inmate supervision is intermittent; staff must patrol the corridors to observe inmates in their cells.
Second-generation jail: Jail where staff remain in a secure control booth surrounded by inmate housing areas called pods and surveillance is remote.
Third-generation jail (also direct-supervision jail): A jail where inmates are housed in small groups, or pods, staffed 24 hours a day by specially trained officers. Officers interact with inmates to help change behavior. Bars and metal doors are absent, reducing noise and dehumanization.
Rated capacity: The maximum number of beds allocated to each jail facility by a state or local rating official.
Pay-to-stay jail (also self-pay jails): An alternative to serving time in a county jail. Offenders convicted of minor offenses are offered privileges for a fee from $85 to $255 per day.
Privatization: A contract process that shifts public functions, responsibilities, and capital assets, in whole or in part, from the public sector to the private sector.
Reentry: The transition offenders make from prison or jail to the community.
Jail accreditation: Process through which correctional facilities and agencies can measure themselves against nationally adopted standards and through which they can receive formal recognition and accredited status.