PRIVATE PRISON MANAGEMENT: PANACEA OR PRETENCE?*

Abstract: Private prison management has been examined as a policy initiative by at least two state governments in Australia. Queensland boasts the only privately managed gaol in the country, and New South Wales has expressed interest in the possibility of contracting out the management of one of its new gaols. In the United States where it had its genesis, private management of adult correctional facilities has existed since the mid-1980s. Governments in America at federal, state and local levels have turned to private prison management because of budgetary constraints and chronic levels of overcrowding in their prisons and gaols due to an escalating rate of crime and incarceration. Private prison management in the United States has provided a last resort to a crisis situation. Among policy-makers in Australia there seems little appreciation of the factors which have motivated private prison management in the United States. In Queensland and New South Wales there is a view at government level that the private sector may well be a better manager of gaols than government, and that private management will achieve cost savings for government. Even in the United States, however, private prison management is still at an experimental stage and there is no evidence as yet to support assumptions about superior management and cost effectiveness. Governments in Australia are not experiencing the same crises which have prompted certain governments in America to adopt private prison management. Instead of introducing private corporations into the field of corrections in Australia, governments should be attempting to improve the performance of their own gaols and to make greater use of the private sector in those areas where its contribution can be of most significance — in the design and construction of prison facilities.