ABSTRACT
Privatization refers to outsourcing government functions to private, for-profit business under a contract. Currently, the most privatized aspect of criminal justice is punishment in general and prisons in particular. “Nominal privatization” includes contracting with private companies for services such as the building and construction of prisons, provision of food services, medical care and commissary supplies. “Operational privatization” means contracting out the day-to-day management of prisons to private for-profit companies. Operational privatization involves a private company operating a facility owned by the government or managing inmates in a prison that the company owns. In some countries, such arrangements may be called public private partnerships (PPP) or private finance initiatives (PFI). Private prisons are a multi-billion dollar, multi-national industry, with the two largest firms – Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut) – traded on stock exchanges.
