Private prisons aren’t the villain, the entire system needs reform
Prisons run by private corporations, such as GEO Group here in Florida, are routinely vilified by the media and social activists. Private prisons stand accused of perpetuating the flaws of the state and federal prison systems, the so-called “prison industrial complex.” Rarely do we see a countering argument in the press.
The Florida and U.S. penal systems are a mess, but are private prisons to blame?
I’ve tried over 300 criminal jury trials and talked with thousands of inmates. I have met with my clients at correctional facilities and reformatories from Key West to Pensacola — correction facilities where none were corrected, reformatories where none were reformed. From my viewpoint, none of the myriad problems of the Florida Department of Corrections or the Federal Bureau of Prisons are caused by private prisons.
Florida’s prison system is violent, inhumane, overcrowded and underfunded. But the dirtiest, scariest and most subhuman of the roughly 120 prison facilities in our state are invariably state-run, not private. The Boca Raton-based GEO Group does a vastly better job providing humane incarceration. My clients, to a man, tell me that the private GEO prisons are better places to do your time than the “Iron Triangle” — the infamously violent collection of staterun prisons in north-central Florida — or other state/DOC run prisons. My guys beg me to get them into a privately run prison. They all attest that GEO prisons have better food, less violence, more-professional guards, better educational programs and better access to toilet paper and toothpaste.
The modern Florida prison overcrowding crisis began in the 1970s and 1980s. Due to a shortage of beds, defendants were typically serving 15% of their sentences. People were outraged. The Supreme Court enforced strict overcrowding mandates, which prohibited the DOC from housing inmates at double capacity or more in squalid facilities built in the Roosevelt administration — no, not FDR. Teddy. Under Gov. Bob Martinez in the late 1980s, Florida started a massive (and necessary) prison-building program. These prisons went online in the mid-1990s. Florida legislators wasted no time drafting and passing strict sentencing laws to take advantage of these empty prison beds, and the beds filled up fast.
Our elected officials seek media exposure but fear being labeled “soft on crime,” so these state legislators routinely drafted sentencing laws that mandated more prison time for any given crime.
These were often craven political ploys to benefit the toughon-crime bona fides of ambitious state politicians. These were a solution in search of a problem.
There’s no clear correlation between incarceration rate and homicide rate. A comparison with the homicide rate and incarceration rate of other developed countries provides some food for thought. The U.S. incarceration rate of 639 per 100,000 is an outlier. Our 5.3 homicides per 100,000 are high compared to countries like the United Kingdom, which has 1.2 homicides per 100,000 and incarcerated 130 per 100,000. But our homicide rate is low compared to Mexico, with its 24.8 homicides per 100,000. And yet, Mexico incarcerates its citizens at a rate of 166 per 100,000, much closer to the United Kingdom’s numbers.
Really, the ratios of murder rate to incarceration rate are all over the board. And yet, the U.S has the highest incarceration rate in the world. My point is: There’s no correlation between homicide rate and incarceration rate. The U.S./ Florida incarceration rate is a function of politics and legislation, unrelated to crime rate or public safety. Private prisons get contracted when Florida deals with a ballooning incarceration rate due to Florida legislation. Private prisons didn’t cause the problem. They are, however, doing a better job of housing our inmates.
The difference is palpable when I visit a private facility vs. a state facility. The private prison administration and staff are professional and (more or less) polite. At state facilities, I’m confronted with surliness and indifference. I’ve waited hours for a guard to bring my client to an interview room when they could do it in 20 minutes.
Civilized societies need prisons. Their primary purpose is public safety: To isolate the most violent and antisocial of criminals from law-abiding society. But most inmates get released back into our communities. Why would we think subjecting people to years of torment — beatings, gang rapes, extortion and deprivation — would mold them into better citizens?
Our prison system is in a decades-long crisis. We need a solution that reduces the population of nonviolent offenders while protecting public safety. I would encourage students and social activists to get involved to improve the system and make a difference. But uninformed criticism of private prisons isn’t the answer. We need to address the state legislature. Devote your spirit and energy to prison reform. We hear more media accounts about the Chinese government imprisonment of ethnic Uighurs — a gross violation of human rights — than about this appalling human rights issue in our own backyard.
Our prison system is in a decades-long crisis. We need a solution that reduces the population of nonviolent offenders while protecting public safety.
Gerard S. Williams was a Broward prosecutor from 1991 through 2001 and has been a criminal defense attorney since then.