[dalke]

You are right, they have the same potential.

But there are different organizational issues. Companies can keep more of their operating details private. This makes it harder for the public to investigate a privately run prison than a publicly run prison.

Private jails also add an extra level of finger-pointing, which makes it hard to determine who is ultimately responsible for operational policies. In a locally run prison, it's easy to figure out who is responsible. But if the jail is run by a large company, then "it's policy" becomes a disturbingly frustrating answer, as any follow-up question will be answered with "take it up with corporate".

Some of these organization issues make it more difficult for a publicly run organization than a private on to achieve the same level of corruption.