American Conversations Minisodes: Private Prisons

This podcast minisode was created for students by students at St. Olaf College as part of the American Conversations project. For more information about these minisodes, check out season 4 episode 14, “American Conversations.” The Privatization of American Prisons Mike Guzman, Cates Eliasen, Grace Lofstrom, and Matthew Myers In our podcast, we explain and analyze private prisons from historical, political, and international perspectives. We begin by providing a brief history of American private prisons that focuses on the rapid growth of the prison population since the 1980s. Then we explain and analyze political perspectives from both major parties. Democrats and left-leaning individuals and organizations are generally critical of private prisons because of mistreatment of inmates, reduced opportunities for rehabilitation, and little or no financial savings. Republicans and conservatives, on the other hand, have championed private prisons largely for their financial savings and because they are an opportunity to reduce the size of the government. We also briefly highlight recent laws and events relating to private prisons during both the Obama and Trump Administrations. Finally, we compare private prisons in the United States with those in Japan and Mexico to demonstrate other ways in which privatization occurs in the penal system. Throughout the podcast, we draw on interviews with Carlos Gallego and Alissa Bidwell in order to add different perspectives to our podcast.