Wackenhut Corrections Corporation

Why WCC Exists

During the 1980s and 1990s, dramatically rising incarceration rates created a significant increase in the demand for prison space. National and state governments saw their corrections budgets and inmate populations skyrocket. Private corrections corporations such as WCC alleged that they could provide detention services for less money than could government entities, without sacrificing the quality of service. They argued that free market principles could be applied to prisons to make them more efficient and effective. In other words, private corrections companies such as WCC believe that a well-run private prison can operate better and for less money than an overly bureaucratic public one.

Additionally, WCC and others have argued that private prisons are more just, because they make prison supply more responsive to changes in demand. Instead of having a fixed number of prison beds, and hence a fixed number of potential lawbreakers, private contracting with WCC allows the courts flexibility in sentencing. As a result, there is less likelihood that sentencing decisions will be made on the basis of limited prison space.

WCC and its advocates have also proposed that private corrections facilities have more incentive to treat prisoners fairly than do state-run prisons. Simply stated, they believe that to ensure the renewal [Page 1020]of state contracts, private corporations have a vested interest in treating inmates well. If they do not, their reputation will suffer, as will their bottom line.

Criticisms

Critics have raised several issues in regard to private correctional corporations like WCC. First, many have argued that governments' contracting for imprisonment with private companies improperly delegates to private hands the coercive power and authority that should be uniquely held by government. That is, if people violate the laws of the state, the state should administer the punishments. If a private entity such as WCC, as opposed to the public itself, is responsible for administering punishments, profit motives may be placed ahead of the interests of the public or the inmates, or of the original reasons for imprisonment. In other words, private corrections corporations have a conflict of interest in the administration of prisons.

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