[protomyth]

Yep, if we are going to have private prisons, they really need to pay on the basis of capacity and not actual inmate counts. That provides a direct incentive to keep inmate count down.

The second part of this is that public prisons suffer from the same problem as private prisons. Look at the prison worker's union and what money it spends on politics in California. It basically backs every legislation that will increase prisoner counts.

Its not a public or private issue, it is, as you pointed out, an incentive issue. Sadly, the public sector incentives are just as bad.

[hansjorg]

> public sector incentives are just as bad

That's not true. The amount of funds which goes in to this kind of lobbying matters.

With a private prison system you get not just the funds from prison worker's unions, but also those from the owners.

[protomyth]

Take a look at the money spent by the unions, contractors, and then politicians repaying the favors in salary, pensions, and extended sentences in California. It is just as much money and worse from a public trust issue.

[boie0025]

> Yep, if we are going to have private prisons, they really need to pay on the basis of capacity and not actual inmate counts. That provides a direct incentive to keep inmate count down.

Woah, interesting concept, I had never even thought of that. That in mind, I am very opposed to private prisons for reasons found scattered throughout this thread.

[protomyth]

I don't see any real difference between public or private as neither is more noble in motives. Neither has been given the correct incentives, so I figure experiment with those we can fire (private) until we find the right incentive list. Paying for capacity is one way to incentivize a desire for fewer prisoners and won't work in a public setting.