Private Corrections, Public Implications: The Local Economic Realites of Private Prisons

Charlotte Landes, Oberlin College

Location

Science Center, A254

Document Type

Presentation

Start Date

4-26-2013 4:00 PM

End Date

4-26-2013 5:00 PM

Abstract

The coercive power of the state is distinctive, and yet incarceration is becoming more widely privatized. For-profit prisons market themselves as a solution to municipal and statewide economic woes alike. Using standard Ordinary Least Squares models, I explore the relationship between privatized prisons and local economic health. Despite the companies’ promises of secure, high-paying jobs, I find no significant relationship between the public/private nature of a prison and these economic indicators. Local and state officials would be well served by a careful review of advertised benefts before handing over to corporations the authority to detain and punish our fellow citizens.

Notes

Session III, Panel 13: The Powers (and Limits) of Persuasion: Case Studies in Liberation, Representation, and Privatization
Moderator: Michael Parkin, Associate Professor of Politics

Full text thesis available here.

Major

Economics

Advisor(s)

Barbara Craig, Economics

Project Mentor(s)

Hirschel Kasper, Economics
Barbara Craig, Economics
Carlos Chiapa, Economics

April 2013

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS
 
Apr 26th, 4:00 PM Apr 26th, 5:00 PM

Private Corrections, Public Implications: The Local Economic Realites of Private Prisons

Science Center, A254

The coercive power of the state is distinctive, and yet incarceration is becoming more widely privatized. For-profit prisons market themselves as a solution to municipal and statewide economic woes alike. Using standard Ordinary Least Squares models, I explore the relationship between privatized prisons and local economic health. Despite the companies’ promises of secure, high-paying jobs, I find no significant relationship between the public/private nature of a prison and these economic indicators. Local and state officials would be well served by a careful review of advertised benefts before handing over to corporations the authority to detain and punish our fellow citizens.