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I. INTRODUCTION: THE INCENTIVE TO PRIVATIZE?
Incarceration has been the standard form of punishment in society since the late eighteenth century.1 When one commits a crime, one is typically sentenced and incarcerated for a given duration of time. The goals of the incarceration system are to serve both a utilitarian function, creating what should be a safer society, and a retributive function, helping the victim of crime be redressed.
Unfortunately, incarceration rates began to rise globally at the end of the twentieth century due to new government regulations across countries and the overcriminalization of minor offenses. Between 2000 and 2016, the prison population increased from 1,381,892 to 1,505,400 inmates, and it has only grown since.2 Further, there has been a 9% increase in prison growth in the United States since the start of the twenty-first century.3 In the United States, the incarceration rate is 358 per 100,000 U.S. residents.4 The United Kingdom (composed of the regions of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) similarly uses incarceration as a method of punishment. However, the incarceration rate in the United Kingdom is lower than that of the United States. The rate in the United Kingdom breaks down as follows: 159 prisoners per 100,000 in England and Wales, 162 per 100,000 in Scotland, and ninety-seven per 100,000 in Northern Ireland.5 The gradual increase of the mass incarcerated population in both the United States and the United Kingdom caused government leaders to propose solutions to help alleviate population and potentially save money for states and territories. Private prisons became the most feasible alternative for reasons that will be discussed further in this paper.
Currently, the United States uses private prisons more frequently than any other country globally. At the start of the twenty-first century, there were 92,210 inmates in private detention facilities, including prisons and immigration detention centers (6.7% of the prison population).6 When the Bureau of Justice Statistics measured the results again in 2016, they found that this number had increased to 154,315 inmates (10.25% of the prison population).7 Furthermore, there are 158 private prisons on U.S. soil, a number that has grown immensely in the past twenty years.8 In the United Kingdom, the leading European country in private prison use, the numbers are much lower. There are...