Private Prisons in the UK - Doesn't It Bother You?

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?

I know that the US has a worse bribery problem—they don't even bother to hide it, it's just done out in the open; in fact, the supreme court recently declared that corporations can donate unlimited money to candidates. However, as some journalists have pointed out (i.e. this well-written article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/03/prison-population-titan-jails), the writing is on the wall: the problems seen in the US (and lived firsthand by countless victims) will take shape in the UK unless something is done. In fact, for some unfortunate Britons, the nightmare has already become reality.

I'm going to uni in the UK next year. I hope to perhaps even take up permanent residence. (Anywhere but the US!) But things like this concern me deeply, because if the UK is going to follow the US's lead on things, then there's really no point in moving to the UK at all. I don't want to see the United Kingdom become like the United States!

Actually, Parliament isn't bound by any EU human rights legislation.

If you ask me, this stuff hasn't happened as Britain has a more automated political system: ie, Ministers tend to back things more on 'evidence' (read: what civil servants, officials and panels of 'experts' tell them to do) rather than on gut instinct of ideology. Lobbying just isn't as effective here.

Well, whatever. But the HRA aim is to "give further effect" in UK law to the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights. So I can't see it going away. It's a powerful Act and I'm lawyers that specialise in it would have something to say about not being able to unduly extend prison sentences so inmates can do unlimited manual labour (which is what private prisons groups in the US have lobbied for)

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?

I think you'll find the UK a bit of a disapointment. Don't get your expectations up too much.

But it won't ever get to being that much like the US in this regard as Parliament is bound by some extremely powerful EU Human Rights Legislation which is very unlikely to be overturned unless the UK leaves the EU which isn't going to happen. That's really why lobbyists don't do so well in the UK - you simply can't get some legislation out of the starting blocks.

I'm going to uni in the UK next year. I hope to perhaps even take up permanent residence. (Anywhere but the US!) But things like this concern me deeply, because if the UK is going to follow the US's lead on things, then there's really no point in moving to the UK at all. I don't want to see the United Kingdom become like the United States!