, Columnist
America's Rocky Relationship With For-Profit Prisons
The federal government's decision to resume its responsibility is the latest chapter in a longstanding debate.
Punishment or rehabilitation.
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The Department of Justice announced last week that it would end its reliance on for-profit prisons run by companies such as Corrections Corporation of America and Geo Group. The decision followed an internal study, which found that private prisons tended to be less safe and poorly administered, and provided limited long-term savings for the federal government.
Shares of CCA and Geo Group initially fell, losing 40 percent of their value. They have since rebounded, driven by the optimistic view that the decision, which only affects 195,000 prisoners in federal facilities, won’t spill over to the privately run state and local prisons and jails that house more than 2 million prisoners.