Private Funded Prisons vs. Communities? A Closer Look at What's Happening in Crete

Hot topics to hit a local barber shop and local diners will range from elections to illegal immigration to crime. But a new stir has come forth with the potential of a privately funded prison in the Village of Crete.

I have many friends and family who reside in Crete, and so far not one is happy about a possible deal for a new prison built to house illegal immigrants coming to their town. In the past, you would hear about most prisons showing up somewhere in rural southern Illinois.

In addition, the village government would be authorized by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to hire a private company to build and operate the center on a for-profit basis.

Crete has a small town and rural landscape to it, which includes, during the summertime, antique car shows, festivals and parades, just to name a few. I love some of the hidden homes along I-394 near Balmoral Park and Burville Road, which is the proposed site for the new prison.

Because it would be privately owned, the detention center property could be taxed. Officials from Crete estimated that the building would eventually cost about $60 million to construct.

The Village of Crete would actually be paid by ICE to operate the prison, and the village would hire Corrections Corporation of America to run it — meaning Crete and CCA would be partners, each making a profit off of the detention of illegal immigrants.

For the past 20 years the private corrections industry has continued to grow. With more than two million Americans incarcerated in prisons in the Unites States. Local governments and states cannot possibly hope to keep up with the high rates of incarceration.

They must choose between overcrowding, releasing inmates or contracting for outsourcing of inmate housing. More agencies are choosing to outsource their inmates.

Why Privatize and Outsource?

There are many reasons why agencies choose to outsource and I will discuss a few of them, including the many different options that companies have available to them, their quality of care, cost of housing, treatment programs, and some of the advantages as well as disadvantages of the for profit-business of corrections.

The question of why to privatize corrections is a good one. I will explain as best as I can why private prisons are becoming so popular.

The first and most obvious reason is cost effectiveness. This is due to many reasons, mainly the standardized internal training many companies conduct for their correctional officers and supervisors.

Second, is the ability to build when the need to arises without any judicial or governmental interference. No selling bonds or voting, they simply buy some land, apply for a permit and start building.

Thirdly, the private industry is usually a non-union organization, so the wages of officers are controlled by the individual companies not unions.

Benefits of a Prison?

Illegal immigration is a very sensitive subject and I have seen many elected officials and candidates tap dance around this subject not to upset folks. In the new detention centers, those accused of being illegal immigrants would be treated more humanely, have greater access to recreational areas.

In addition, the detention center would provide a new source of employment for the village and potential construction jobs. I would like to know what construction companies and contractors would be involved in the building. Will local residents in the foot print of Crete have first choice of those jobs?

Many of the residence have concern for safety like they should. Extra traffic coming into their quiet town to visit family and friends in the prison. I believe their biggest concern is the pro/con for allowing this business to come into their hidden and quiet community.

What About CCA?

The company who will oversee this prison is CCA. It has been operating prisons and detention centers for 30 years. It has contracts with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Marshals Service and ICE to run 67 facilities nationwide.

Impressive, many may say, right?

It is no secret that CCA has had its financial problems over the years. It came close to insolvency in the late 1990s after it accumulated heavy debt building expensive speculative prisons and restructuring itself as a real estate investment trust. After restructuring again, shaking up its upper management and spending $120 million to settle investor lawsuits, the company now claims to be in better financial shape.

Many of the company's problems are blamed on its labor policies. Because prisons are very labor intensive institutions, the only way a company like CCA can sell itself to government as a cheaper option than public prisons while still making a profit, is by using as few staff as possible, paying them as little as possible, and not spending much on training. Remember, you always get what you pay for!

From the beginning, CCA has sought to depress its labor costs by keeping wages low and by denying its employees traditional (defined-benefit) pension plans. One predictable result of these policies had been under-staffing and high rates of turnover at some of its facilities. For example, annual turnover rates at several CCA facilities in Tennessee have been more than 60 percent.

Another, equally predictable, has been the opposition of public service unions to the spread of prison privatization. Criminal justice reformers, trying to reduce the use of incarceration in the U.S., don't normally find themselves allying with prison guard unions, but in this fight they are all on the same side.

Information and Research on CCA provided by http://www.grassrootsleadership.org/.