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Essay on Privatization and Raise of Standards in British Prisons

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Critically review the argument that privatization offers an important strategy to raise standards in British prisons. What might be the pitfalls of such an approach?

Political and Academic interest in the privatization of British Prisons has steadily risen since its sudden revival during the 1980's and 1990's. This interest has been precipitated by a rapid rise in the prison population and the directly related escalation of running costs and difficulties of running a consistently efficient service. Privatization was seen by many policy-makers as providing an important step forward towards improving conditions, bringing about change and innovation, and improving the overall quality of the British prison system. The private sector was believed to be capable of delivering a better standard of service with greater efficiency and a higher degree of accountability. Subsequently, the last decade has seen a steady growth of private sector involvement in the British prison system. This essay will examine the argument that privatization offers an important strategy to raise standards within Britain's prisons and consider any problems associated with this approach.

'The privatisation of corrections is now understood to mean some form of the ownership or management of prisons by private corporations. The role of the private sector in contemporary corrections is, however, much broader than this narrow definition. Savas (1987) points out that the private sector is involved in corrections in five distinct ways. It may: (1) finance and construct prisons; (2) operate facilities for juveniles; (3) operate facilities for adults; (4) provide work for prisoners, and (5) provide specific contractual services, such as health care and vocational education for inmates and staff'.

The recent move towards the privatization of British prisons has been largely based on the substantial increase of the prison population. Between 1993 and 1996 the UK prison population increased from 43,000 to 54,000, a rate of about 100 per 100,000 of the entire population. This rapid rise has led to widespread overcrowding and a decrease in standards, making living conditions for many prisoners highly unpleasant. Prisoners overall health has deteriorated and suicide and self-mutilation rates have climbed rapidly. Added to this, staff morale has also fallen and widespread scepticism of the value and objective of prisoner programmes has grown. It has been clear for some time that widespread changes and new strategies are needed in order to tackle the problems within the prison system. The main priorities for improving the system have included; increasing prison capacity, introducing working practices that are more accommodating and flexible for prison and probation staff and the need for greater accountability from those responsible for running prison services. 'The claim that all this could be achieved at substantially reduced costs simply by encouraging greater private sector involvement in the delivery of penal policy has been increasingly seen by some as a 'quick fix' solution to many of the penal system's most pressing problems' (Cavadino & Dignan, 2002: 227)

It is important to now look at how it is proposed that privatizing Britain's prisons will lead to such improvements in standards. Supporters of the privatization of Britain's prisons argue that there are a number of potential benefits directly associated with the commercial competition that privatization would produce. For example, through the creation of a market force private organisations would be encouraged to maintain and indeed improve upon high standards of cost effectiveness and efficiency in order to achieve the successful renewal of current government contracts and to compete for new service contracts. Logan & Rausch (1985) suggest that due to the way they are financed public sector organisations are inefficient and ineffective. As the private sector is motivated by competition and profit it is dedicated to providing maximum satisfaction to its clients and customers at a minimum cost. Alternatively, in the public sector; 'bureaucrats are rewarded not according to the performance of their organization but according to the size and budget of their agencies, thus they are more interested in "empire building" than in increasing their efficiency.' Beyens & Snacken also examine this point, arguing that; 'Proponents claim that privatization is the best way to decrease costs and construct new, better designed prisons more quickly. By introducing the element of competition and new management techniques, better quality for less money can be achieved. It is stated that private correctional services can operate more efficiently, because of less bureaucratic 'red tape' and a higher motivation to control costs'.

Privatization, many claim leads to heightened accountability within the prison system. It is argued that the government is in an ideal position to impose strict guidelines and include detailed service standards within contracts, making companies readily accountable and putting them at risk of financial penalties for failure to fulfil them. As the government no longer have to defend its own shortcomings it can be more active in challenging private companies for failing to meet contractual obligations. Most private contractors accept and appreciate the value of full time independent monitors who are present within private prisons acting as an additional guarantee of contract compliance. Public sector prisons do not have similar fully independent monitors. Also, healthy competition between private sector rivals would also have a regulatory effect as agencies are inclined to monitor each others performance for weaknesses and failings in order to gain a commercial advantage.

It is clear that the primary rationale for passing the management of prisons into private hands is that they are expected to operate at lower running costs than those controlled by the Home Office. If success is to be measured on effective cost-cutting and meeting required standards of service, supporters of privatization are convinced that a sustained push in this direction will produce positive results. It has been estimated that the running costs of private prisons are 15-25 per cent below those of state prisons (Tilt, 1995). A prison review in 1997, stated that privately run prisons on average, offered an operational cost saving of 8-15 per cent. A Parliamentary Select Committee in 1996-97 looked at the management of offenders in the public and private sectors. It reported that an expansion of the private sector would lead to an increase in efficiency in the public sector. It concluded that private prisons were operating well in terms of quality of performance, and that their overall performance was as good as, and in some cases better than, publicly administered prisons.

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