Research Paper on:
Prison System and Privatization

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
One of the most important questions facing prisons today is whether or not they should be privatized and the economics of making such a decision.  Obviously, there are both pros and cons and both sides have their advocates espousing their side (Smith, 2002, See also Private Prisons Help the Local  Tax Base, 2002). But, there are many factors which need to be considered in a discussion of this topic. Per capita, the  U.S. has the distinct honor of being one of the worlds top jailers (ABC News, 2002). There are 1.8 million prisoners in U.S. jails which equals 455 for every  100,000 citizens (ABC News, 2002, See also Prisoners, 2002). "The number of people behind bars rose an average of 7.7 percent each year since 1990 and that trend dipped  last year to 4.7 percent, but thats still enough to fill private cells" (ABC News, 2002). In terms of private prisons, in 2001 this countrys capacity for prisoners in  these private facilities was 276,455 (ABC News, 2002). Per year, this country spends about $21 billion on prison construction and maintenance  (ABC News, 2002). The national average daily cost of care, per prisoner, is $58.00 (Prewitt, 2002). The basic assumption behind states contracting for private prisons is essentially economic.  It is believed that private facilities can operate a private prison at a lower cost than the government can. The costs of running a prison and taking care of  prisoners continue to rise at record rates. Combine this with an ever increasing number of prisoners within the prison population, and this becomes a very expensive proposition for the