Tim Worstall

Private Prisons

So there’s a documentary on private prisons:

An investigation by an undercover reporter working as a prison officer
has exposed conditions in a private jail where inmates have easy access
to drugs and mobile phones and subject overstretched staff to
intimidation if they are too diligent in their work.

Clearly, private prisons bad.

So, what are conditions like on the publically run prisons? Oh, no information? So how do we know that it’s the "private" that makes the difference?

Last night, Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman,
said the investigation called into question the role of private prisons
at a time when half of the new 8,000 prison places promised by the
government are expected to be privately run. "These revelations are
guaranteed to fuel concern about the long-term effect of privatising
our prisons, at a time when the government is keen to push greater
private sector participation in the probation service as well."

Lack of evidence doesn’t stop a politician, of course. Well done Mr. Clegg, you’ve got the basic talent needed to climb the greasy pole. Spot a bandwagon rolling and get out in front of it.

In

7 responses

  1. Bob B Avatar
    Bob B

    Btw this recently published book is about Professor Zimbardo’s notorious Stanford (University) Prison experiment in 1971 which had to be prematurely ended because the participants started to make their role play too realistic:
    The Lucifer Effect
    Philip Zimbardo
    http://www.lucifereffect.com/
    Hat tip to the plug on Andrew Marr’s Start the Week on BBCR4 this morning.
    While we’re at it, these also connect in their way:
    Stanley Milgram:
    Obedience to Authority
    Kathleen Taylor:
    Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control

    Reply
  2. dearieme Avatar
    dearieme

    It was made for the BBC and Guardian. No surprise there. (Reporters for the Beeb and Grdn always imply that scientists whose work is sponsored by a firm will bend the results to suit the sponsor, presumably because that’s how everyone in their world behaves.)

    Reply
  3. Bob B Avatar
    Bob B

    In Yorkshire prisons OTOH, many inmates have reportedly reached an amicable resolution over previous endeavours by prison staff to impose restrictions on their inalienable rights to the pursuit of happiness:
    “MORE than 60 per cent of criminals locked up in Yorkshire’s prisons have the keys to their own cells, the Yorkshire Post can reveal. Nine prisons across the region give offenders the means to lock their own ‘rooms’.”
    http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=2146483&sectionid=55
    The official rationale is that possession of cell keys enables prisoners to preserve privacy and protect their personal property rights against violations by other inmates.

    Reply
  4. Codepope Avatar
    Codepope

    Bob B.; The cell keys they are given are for *extra* locks on the doors; that allows the prison officers to open the cells during the day, and allow the prisoners to lock their cells from other prisoners to stop them using another prisoners cell as a hiding place for contraband.

    Reply
  5. Neil Craig Avatar
    Neil Craig

    If you see a bandwagon safer to climb aboard than to stand in front of it.

    Reply
  6. Kay Tie Avatar
    Kay Tie

    “The cell keys they are given are for *extra* locks on the doors”
    Seems to me an eminently sensible idea. In case no-one noticed, there are thieves in prison. Shouldn’t prisoners be able to keep their things safe?

    Reply
  7. Bob B Avatar
    Bob B

    It would seem that at least in Yorkshire there’s no honour among thieves.

    Reply

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