America, champion of capitalism, hope of the brave etc, can still do math:
Justice Department says it will end use of private prisons
The Justice Department plans to end its use of private prisons after officials concluded the facilities are both less safe and less effective at providing correctional services than those run by the government.
Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates announced the decision on Thursday in a memo that instructs officials to either decline to renew the contracts for private prison operators when they expire or “substantially reduce” the contracts’ scope. The goal, Yates wrote, is “reducing — and ultimately ending — our use of privately operated prisons.”
“They simply do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs, and resources; they do not save substantially on costs; and as noted in a recent report by the Department’s Office of Inspector General, they do not maintain the same level of safety and security,” Yates wrote.
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The Justice Department’s inspector general last week released a critical report concluding that privately operated facilities incurred more safety and security incidents than those run by the federal Bureau of Prisons. The private facilities, for example, had higher rates of assaults — both by inmates on other inmates and by inmates on staff — and had eight times as many contraband cellphones confiscated each year on average, according to the report. …
So, similar to our experience in NZ then. If I was a betting man, however, I would bet that Labour are right:
Govt ‘too proud and arrogant’ to ditch private prisons – Labour
The US Justice Department has announced plans to phase out private prisons, but don’t expect the same to happen here in New Zealand anytime soon.
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New Zealand private operator Serco’s poor handling of the Auckland Central Remand Prison in Mt Eden saw management of the prison handed back to Corrections late last year.
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But Labour corrections spokesperson Kelvin Davis said the US decision was “just proof of what we’ve been saying”.“They’ve come to realise it doesn’t save money, it doesn’t help with rehabilitation, it doesn’t make these people better people when they come out of prison. They learnt their lesson. They’ve had the courage to reverse their decision around private prisons.”
But he doesn’t expect the Government to follow in the United States’ footsteps.
“They’re just so arrogant – this would be a major slap in the face for Judith Collins. She was the architect of the private prison experiment here in New Zealand… she’s just too proud and arrogant to accept she got it wrong.” …
Doing things against the evidence for ideological reasons is just the National way.
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