The Lion's Pride Volume 11 (Winter 2019) | Page 11

sprung out. Many of the allegations included “‘overcrowding, toilets that
constantly overflowed, insects crawling into the tents, solitary
confinement cells being used as overflow space and inadequate medical
treatment’” (“Private Prison,” 2017). Not long after, a lawsuit was filed
against MTC, which they responded to by “‘[allowing] the abysmal
conditions to continue without taking any action or notifying the County
of or attempting to rectify the problems with the Prison’” (“Private
Prison,” 2017). MTC also “failed to address the issue of prison
overcrowding” (“Private Prison,” 2017), probably because they “‘[were]
paid an additional per diem for inmates beyond the 90 percent capacity
threshold” (“Private Prison,” 2017). They did not change or respond to
the overcrowding issue because they were gaining money by having the
most prisoners in their prison. This type of abuse and neglect is what
contributes to the safety and security issues that so many private prisons
subject their prisoners to.
Does the Good Outweigh the Bad?
Many people will argue that private prisons are a good thing for the
United States and that they are providing room for more prisoners and
are creating healthier environments for prisoners to not re-offend again.
While potentially good reasons for keeping private prisons, they don’t
acknowledge that many private prisons have as many downsides as they
do good and that private prison owners face many “social and logistical