The UK government has authorised a few private prisons since 1992, and I've read that it's considering turning many prisons over to the private sector, just as it's been considering the privatisation of other public functions. Doesn't this concern any of you?
Yes, yes: you're not a criminal, so why care? I get that. But it bothers the hell out of me because, living in the US, I'm familiar with how well that's been working out over here.
There has been at least one major incident (that's been found out) in which private prisons bribed judges to give unusually harsh sentences to people—specifically children in this case—and often for acts that weren't even against the law. The idea, of course, is that more people behind bars equates to more profits for the prison.
Then take the lobbying (that's yankspeak for "bribing") that private prison corporations have done for harsher laws. That's right: in the United States, private prison corporations are constantly bribing politicians for harsher laws so that more people can end up behind bars, and assuming backdoor deals haven't already been made (probably), it's just a matter of time before they finally get what they want.
This doesn't just apply to prisons, it applies to everything public, including transportation and such; however, I think that prisons are the best way of driving the point home as there are few things as disgusting as children spending a year behind bars when they didn't even commit a crime, or people being raped with no intervention from staff because extra security has been ruled an unnecessary, profit-reducing expense.
What do you think of this privatisation trend in the UK?