Should Privately Run Detention Centers be Allowed In Illinois?

robin March 5, 2013 at 06:14 am

Your headline should read "detention", not "dentenion".

John Roberts March 5, 2013 at 02:08 pm

not at all...Private prisons have share holders that have special interests...It will be a mandatory 1 year in prison for not using a turn signal...private prisons are in the business of making money..and only making money...It costs $42000 a year to house an inmate,if that inmate is transferred after 30 days the new prison gets $42000..The money does NOT transfer with the prisoner..This will cause a great prison shuffle and be even more costly to the tax payers...When a prison costs the state money and people complain about laws like Marijuana and any prohibition laws..Why are most being repealed? because like George Washington said " The best way to repeal a law is to strictly enforce it" ..He meant the more people you punish for doing something little or something the "Citizens" voted on the laws will change..If people stand to profit privately from crime..we create a bad situation..Just like our Healthcare...That we provide free to other countries...With tax payer money..

Karen March 5, 2013 at 02:16 pm

And Allowed not Alllowed.

Karen March 5, 2013 at 02:19 pm

Wasn't there privately run child detention centers in other states that gave tons of campaign money to judges to order kids to these centers? I vaguely remember a story where kids who should have gotten probation for minor offenses ended up getting years in these facilities.

John Roberts March 5, 2013 at 02:29 pm

also who is still paying for these inmates?..The citizen Taxpayers that's who..and who stops the cost of housing these inmates from rising? The Government? yeah after years and years of court costs and legislation..like most laws are created..Something or some one has to get screwed over first in order to have a law created...As of right now when a state owns it the costs are down to minimal....Let me say it like this..If you had a house and got paid for letting people stay for a night..Wouldn't you try to fill your rooms every night?..Wouldn't you find a way to charge more due to demand after you are established? Lets say you bought the food too..Wouldnt you try to make a little cash for cooking and shopping?...most prisons now have a 25% increase in supplies the most of the time that cost is forwarded to the families that have to put money on their books..or it will force their family member to have to resort to gambling and hustling in prison that can get a person killed..the very first advice an Inmate gives the young ones is stay away from gambling and debit causing activities...this is just a bad situation all together for the citizens..Costs will rise and someone stands to profit...and you can bet if there is no profit being a private owner of a prison then there is no reason to be a private owner of a prison..Doing it for fun does not pay the bills..

John Roberts March 5, 2013 at 02:40 pm

Yep sure did..Thats exactly what happened and now the Judge is behind bars too...

OakLawnGuy March 5, 2013 at 02:48 pm

Karen, this is the single biggest reason that privatization of public services and facilities is going to bite us all. And it will extend far beyond judges and extended sentences: look at the recent revelations regarding the Chicago red light cameras, and the money that changed hands.

S March 5, 2013 at 03:21 pm

I agree with OakLawnGuy for the most part. If we don't want privatization, that leaves the government. Yet when the pension issue was raised for public employees, everyone was in outrage and promoted the notion that all unions were corrupt and running us into the ground. It appears that there's no middle ground; either the government and the unions which support them are the problem, or privatizing businesses and public services are the problem. America can't seem to decide which and is so uncomfortable with the notion of compromise that no matter what happens, the middle class will take it on the chin just as we always do.

Karen March 5, 2013 at 03:39 pm

You bring up good points. I feel judges should not be allowed to take 'donations' from anyone or any company. Our judicial system is so out of whack. Say you need to sue a corporation, that corporation 'supports' a judges campaign. Guess who gets to oversee that case?
The only problem that I have with unions in the state government is that union workers are unable to be laid off. The state needs to downsize the amount of state workers yet we can't do that without a lawsuit due to the contract that the Governor signed.

M&M March 5, 2013 at 04:43 pm

The problem that I have with government unions is that when it comes time to negotiate a new contract, they may very well be negotiating with the same people they helped get elected. When the private sector unions negotiate a new contract, you better believe the company has hired a negotiator with only the companys best interest in mind.

Wendy 72 Mustang March 11, 2013 at 03:40 am

Does anybody really trust the bozos making the decisions not to screw the public over for a fat envelope of cash?
There are numerous examples of fraud regarding privatization.

Edward Andrysiak March 26, 2013 at 03:23 pm

I'm past the notion that only government can do some things or do them better. This is a matter of COST. A private prison would get X dollars per day. That would be what it costs the tax payer and if private operators can do it cheaper than the County and State...let them have at it! Stafrt be leaeing them the idle facilities in Joliet. Let government prisons house the violent offenders and put the civil disobedient ones in the private prisons. While we are at it...let's review the laws for giving prison sentences to non violent folks...like pot smokers for example. Fine them, heavily, instead of giving them jail time!