Have you ever used a solution in order to create a problem? No? Neither have I because it doesn’t make sense to use a solution, which will inevitably create greater problems, to solve an imaginary problem.
Governor-elect LePage appears to be offering a solution likely to cause problems. He has resumed discussions aimed at bringing a private prison to Maine, even though Maine has enough prison beds in the state as a result of the corrections consolidation.
First, let’s talk about why private prisons are bad. Private prison companies have perverse incentives. These companies want more people in prisonfor more profits, while the rest of us would rather have fewer crimes and fewer criminals.
Now let’s talk about why private prisons are the worst. Private prisons are notorious for human rights abuses because of lack of transparency and oversight. Generally, private prisons are not subject to the same Freedom of Information laws that public prisons are. Furthermore, private prisons have a profit incentive to provide prisoners with cheaper *inadequate* medical care, food, and housing. MPBN reported:
“CCA's critics cite one recent news story about how an inmate at a CCA-run facility in Idaho was severely beaten by another prisoner while prison guards apparently stood and watched.”
This is one example of many instances of abuse in private prisons. An ACLU staff attorney from the National Prison Project highlights several truly disturbing instances of abuse in private prisons in his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee of Congress in 2008.
The government ought to be investing in programs that will help rehabilitate prisoners. That makes us all safer and saves money. Maine does not have money to waste on more unnecessary prison beds.
ACLU of MAINE Legal Director Zach Heiden summed it up nicely by reflecting on how Maine’s legislature has approached this issue:
"For a number of years the Legislature has considered bringing private prisoners to Maine or sending Maine prisoners to private prisons out-of-state, and wisely they've rejected it," says Zachary Heiden, the legal director at the Maine Civil Liberties Union.
"They've realized that it does not save money in the short-run or the long-run, and they know that there have been human rights problems in private facilities across the country," Heiden says. "And when there are problems the state ends up paying the bills."