I was unaware such things existed. While I can see certain benefits from the idea of private prisons (subject to proper oversight and regulation), my natural inclination would be that it's probably better that prisons, as a matter of public policy, should not be run as for-profit enterprises.
My main questions on the bill though are: do we know/can we reasonably estimate how many persons are currently detained in Atlasian private prisons?
And, can the public prison system reasonably cope with the addition of such numbers, presumably with immediate effect, should this bill pass?
Approximately 8 percent, or 180,000 of the around 2 million incarcerated individuals, are currently housed in private prisons.
Atlasian regional prisons are on average running at 110 percent capacity, while federal prisons are closer to 130 percent.
If the Senate chooses to pass this bill, the Office of the GM highly recommends major funding for expansion of state and federal prison facilities, as well as a phase-in timetable for the implementation of this legislation.
