NE3: Private Prisons Ban Act (Law)

[Deus Naturae]

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Sponsor: Representative SWE

Debate on this bill will last for 72 hours, or until 8:35 PM on Thursday May 22, unless modified or extended. The sponsor has 36 hours to advocate for this proposed legislation. If he does not, this bill will be tabled as there is other pending legislation in the queue.

[Deus Naturae]

For-profit prisons are obviously horrible but I don't see anything wrong with non-profit private prisons. In fact, it seems to me that prisons managed and operated by non-profit, private operators (if they don't exist already) have the potential to significantly improve our prison system.

On the one hand, non-profit private prisons would possess the key advantages of for-profit prisons: Increased cost-effectiveness and the ability to develop and implement innovative, individualized programs. On the other hand, they would lack the main downside of for-profit prisons: The economic incentive to imprison people. In addition, private non-profits would have a unique hiring advantage. While the staffs of public prisons are limited to government employees, private non-profits have the ability to hire additional workers, such as rehabilitation experts, therapists, etc. Finally, whereas private for-profits are inclined to support the imprisonment of more people, private non-profits are inclined to support rehabilitating and then releasing people, more so than public prisons. Why? Because the non-profit groups that receive/would receive the contracts for this sort of thing are mainly composed of experienced criminal justice and rehabilitation workers. Why else would they manage/work for a non-profit prison group?

So, for those reasons, I think we should keep (and also expand, but that's probably best left for another bill) private non-profit prisons. I'll introduce an amendment to that effect sometime tomorrow.

  

[Deus Naturae]

So we are going to simply seize these prisons and make them our own?

I'd rather we closed most of them.

That will likely just result in more overcrowding in the public prisons.

[Deus Naturae]

The debate period is now over. We will now vote on the final passage of this bill, as written:

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Voting will last for 48 hours or until all Representatives have voted.

[Deus Naturae]

Aye

[Deus Naturae]

By a vote of 4-0-1, this bill passes and goes on to the Governor for bis signature or veto.

[Deus Naturae]

The Governor has signed this bill into law.