The title of this piece will give you a sense of the point of view of this documentary. Grassroots Leadership, an activist group that has started campaigns against privatized prisons, is extensively quoted, and is thanked at the end. But this hour long documentary did cover the "other side" to an extent that I did feel comfortable that the questions were asked. Sound from various prisons across the southwest are mixed with music-- and while I felt the music sometimes was over the top, I was interested to hear from prison officials, former prisoners, health officials and people from communities that have privately run prisons and who appreciate the jobs they brought in. The program provides a pretty thorough explanation about why privatizing prisons is not so good--why outsourcing can cause more problems and ultimately costs the government more than if they had just run the prisons themselves. And the phenomenon is not about to disappear. In fact, prisons are privatizing more and more low security, immigrant detention centers today than they ever have before. Air this documentary to start a conversation about the issue of privatization, in general, and about incarceration methods specifically.
Review of Crime Pays: A Look At Who's Getting Rich From The Prison Boom
Sarah Elzas
Posted on October 24, 2005 at 12:25 PM
The title of this piece will give you a sense of the point of view of this documentary. Grassroots Leadership, an activist group that has started campaigns against privatized prisons, is extensively quoted, and is thanked at the end. But this hour long documentary did cover the "other side" to an extent that I did feel comfortable that the questions were asked. Sound from various prisons across the southwest are mixed with music-- and while I felt the music sometimes was over the top, I was interested to hear from prison officials, former prisoners, health officials and people from communities that have privately run prisons and who appreciate the jobs they brought in. The program provides a pretty thorough explanation about why privatizing prisons is not so good--why outsourcing can cause more problems and ultimately costs the government more than if they had just run the prisons themselves. And the phenomenon is not about to disappear. In fact, prisons are privatizing more and more low security, immigrant detention centers today than they ever have before. Air this documentary to start a conversation about the issue of privatization, in general, and about incarceration methods specifically.