Outsourcing prisoners to other countries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Outsourcing prisoners to other countries - Essay Example Outsourcing typically refers to contracting out a range of public services and/or responsibilities to other private organizations or entities in order to achieve different types of benefits such as correctional expenditures, reduce costs, reduce crime, improve law and order, and achieve other types of correctional measures. From the perspective of criminology, according to the National Council on Crime and Delinquency indicated that the practice of state and local correctional agencies contracting with private entities for medical, mental health, educational, food services, maintenance and administrative office security functions have shown significant rise; notably, the correctional agency maintains control over policy decisions and the quality of service provided by the private agency, using a monitor to maintain policy control and management of the private facility (Price, 2006). The most significant reasons for outsourcing parts of work or entire work to other units are reduced costs and increased profits along with improved efficiency in yield. Williamson’s (1975) analysis indicated that independent, competing service providers are potentially more economical and innovative than captive workers (cited in Mahoney, 2005; p.72). Besides these, work and services obtained from prisoners is said to be beneficial for taxpayers by reducing recidivism and promoting social duty to help criminals return to the society, with the use of cheap labor (Hollis, 2008). Overall, it can be concluded that outsourcing prisoners to other locations/countries cannot be equated with outsourcing of other services owing to the potential disastrous impact that outweighs its intended advantages.