ABSTRACT
The Correction Corporation of America and Wackenhut Security are substantially larger than many public-sector departments of correction and certainly larger than most jail systems. The political nature of the public sector correctional system, reporting to the executive branch of government at the local, state, and federal level, leaves it vulnerable to a host of external forces, particularly regarding budget and operational philosophy. Positioned downstream from all other components of the criminal justice system, it has always been prey to the ideology of the political majority. The cause and effect issues of contemporary correctional privatization are markedly similar to those of the privatization movement of the 1860—sincreasing prisoner populations and a declining economy in the larger society. The connection between economics and the intolerance of crime is a major platform issue in the politics of the 1990s, The Republican majority that captured Congress in the 1994 elections has had a direct impact on state and local correctional agencies.
