Posted: June 2nd, 2015

Rapid growth of the prison population within the United States over the past several decades.

Rapid growth of the prison population within the United States over the past several decades.

In class we discussed the rapid growth of the prison population within the United States over the past several decades. This increase has led some state governments to enter into contracts with private corporations that then take on the task of running the state?s prisons. These corporations often promise to operate the prisons at a lower cost to the states in exchange for being allowed to keep some of their operating money in the form of profits. In general, the corporations are paid a stipend by the government per prisoner and per day that the prisoner remains incarcerated. If the corporation has any money left over from these stipends after providing the basic prison care services then they are allowed to keep it as profit.

write about two things.

briefly discuss the growth in the U.S.?s incarcerated population over the past several decades. In particular, I would like you to describe some of the primary causes of this growth.

Second, I would like you to examine the phenomenon of private for-profit prisons. In particular, I would like you to write about the costs and benefits of such institutions to American society and then tell me whether you think that these institutions will be a net benefit or a net cost to society in the long run.

Make appropriate use of references to support your arguments. Do not just make claims without backing them up sufficiently with either a well-communicated argument and/or cited resources. I would like you to cite any resources that you use to inform your paper by using Chicago or MLA formats. Do not cite class lectures as a source.