English Researched Argument Assignment
ENG102_MH_V5 | Writing Assignment 5: Researched Argument
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Example 2: Color-Coded Researched Argument Last Name 1
First Name Last Name
English Composition II
Researched Argument
2 October 2021
End Mass Incarceration in the U.S: End Making It Profitable
"The federal government should not use private facilities for any detention, including detention of undocumented
immigrants,” stated President Biden before and during the signing of his Executive Order on Janurary 26, 2021(1) This action
was one of the first major decisions the President made, and was a response to the growing uproar against allowing people to
profit from what in all good conscience should be considered a justice and human right issue: the incarceration of human
beings. For sure it is reasonable to hold people accountable for their actions, including using a penal system to do so. However,
when one examines the trends of incarceration, including the demographics of prison populations, the judicial and social
systems altogether must come under scrutiny for being based in a long-running, old and systemic racist, classist, and
xenophobic approach. The issue of incarceration, like its roots, are vast and far reaching, but one thing is clear: the existence of
private prisons has exacerbated using imprisonment as a tool to keep certain classes of people down, and it should be viewed
as a crime in itself.(2) Although some argue for the need for private prisons, the U.S. can and must end the crime of mass
incarceration by first eliminating imprisonment as a profitable business opportunity and industry because of blatant conflicting
purposes, an outlet for systemic racism, and an unregulated private business sector. (3)
One reason for discontinuing the use of private prisons is because the very nature of the capitalistic business model entails
practices leading to the bottom line of profit, all of which creates a foundation for corruption.(4)In the private prison system, this
amounts to longer prison sentences, choosing less costly inmates as if they are commodities, and paying employees lower
wages and fewer benefits. And because the private sector is not held to the same regulations as the government sector, they
continue to get away with corrupt and inhumane practices, instead of what they should be doing--encouraging rehabilitation.
More specifically, private corporations that own prisons exploit the US political system and help change criminal law.(5)
One way in which they do this is they get cozy with state and federal justice systems so they can influence prison
sentences, encouraging the assignment of higher-level crimes that will warrant giving longer prison sentences. Two of the
largest private prison companies in the prison industry, the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Group have
been funneling more than $10 million directly to state lawmakers’ campaign contributions since 1989--all to win lucrative state
contracts, according to the Julia Sawyer of the Prison Policy Initiative. (5)Clearly, such behavior is a conflict of interest,
assuming everyone agrees that prisons are for rehabilitation and that humans should not be treated as chattel and
commodities.(6)
In addition,(6) private prison corporations demonstrate they cannot be trusted act humanely and ethically by virtue of
employing hundreds of lobbyists at the state and federal levels hoping to secure government contracts.(4)Just like any other
private sector, for-profit lobbyist, these prison lobbyists use political contributions, personal connections, and direct lobbying
efforts to influence legislators. The nonpartisan Justice Policy Institute found that “[o]ver the years, these political strategies
have allowed private prison companies to promote politics that lead to higher rates of incarceration and thus greater profit
margins for their companies.” The resulting numbers show the effects: Between 2000 and 2010, these companies brought in a
combined $3.3 billion in annual revenue and the private federal prison population more than doubled. (“Private Prisons Want”)
In fact, since the first private prison opened in Tennessee in 1984, private prisons have seen a 1,600% increase in 25 years in
the U.S. (Justice Education Project) (5)But winning contracts isn’t the worst of this corrupt behavior between government
policymakers and prison owners. They also draft laws together.(6)
Yes, these prison lobbyists actually help to draft legislation that makes sure private prisons stay full, in an apparent and
blatant disregard for what is right, ethical, and in the best interest of the public and human beings, which is another reason why
they need to be put out of business.(4)They back candidates who are “likely to win and donate enough money to ensure they
get a seat at the negotiating table when it comes time to start writing laws,” according to Represent US, a nonpartisan activist
organization. Specific names can corroborate this corrupt activity. Over his career, Marco Rubio has received nearly $40,000 in
campaign donations from GEO, making him the Senate’s top career recipient of contributions from the company.(5) Clearly,
there is a conflict of interest here, and it is not in the interest of those already in much pain.
However, proponents of private prisons tend not to have much empathy for people caught in the proverbial wrong side of
the law, and point to a savings to taxpayers and to the creation of jobs in their communities. Indeed, private prisons were
created in the 1980s with the goal of saving federal taxpayers money. Unfortunately, evidence shows that the extended prison
sentences of private prisons has eclipsed any savings for citizens. According to a study conducted by Professor Anita
Mukherjee of the Wisconsin School of Business, incarcerees in private facilities spent 90 days on average more than their
peers in public prisons [and] their recidivism rates were similar, resulting in negligible savings for citizens: it costs a private
prison about $45,000 annually to hold one prisoner, while costing about $50,000 annually for an inmate in a public prison,
resulting in roughly $5,000 per year inmate per year. “[W]hile those corporations have reaped impressive profits, taxpayers
have not seen similar gains in public safety,” observed Prof. Mukherjee. (Kerwin) Moreover, often private prison contracts end,
leaving their communities stuck with empty prison facilities, lost jobs, and a lost tax revenue source.(7)
Along with the exploitation of the political system,(6)this corruption is seen to lead to inhumane living conditions in private
prison environments, including increased violence among inmates, neglect of inmates, overcrowding, understaffing, all to save
money. (4)A 2016 study the the U.S. Office of the Inspector General found private prisons were more violent than public ones
as well as less equipped : “[Private prisons] simply do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs and
resources,” said then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates. For a case in point, many look to the prisons of Mississippi,
notoriously bad places to be housed and a state with one of the highest incarceration rates in the country. However, along with
Mississippi, over two dozen other states, contract with privately run companies “as a way to reduce costs” because “[p]risons
are usually among the most expensive budget items for states,” according to a New York Times article. And according to a
report by the Sentencing Project cited within the article, since 2000 the U.S. has seen a 45 percent increase in the number of
humans incarcerated in private-sector prisons, while the total number of prisoners has risen by only about 10 percent. Some
privately run prisons, such as East Mississippi Correctional Facility, are required by state contracts to operate at 10 percent
lower cost than state-run facilities. It comes as no surprise, then, to find out that the security personnel at East Mississippi earn
less than the measly hourly $12 rate made by many of their colleagues in other facilities and states. Moreover, they receive only
three weeks of training, half the time required for state prison guards. (Williams)(5) Such money-saving practice comes at a
human cost: increased suicide, inmate-upon-inmate violence, no rehabilitation, increased recidivism, and overall reprehensible
living conditions.(6)
Proponents of a private penal system may argue that there will always be a few bad apples in any industry, but that the
majority of private prisons do right by their inmates and their communities. If that were true, then we would not be seeing the
numbers of increased violence, recidivism, and government inspections that the nation is currently facing. Specifically,
according to a report by the US Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), “contract prisons incurred more
safety and security incidents per capita than comparable BOP institutions,” based on its 2011-2014 comparative analysis of 14
private prisons and 14 public prisons owned and operated by three of the largest private prison corporations Corrections
Corporation of America, the GEO Group, and the Management and Training Corporation. (Williams) OIG’s investigation looked
at problems in six categories: contraband, reports of incidents, lockdowns, inmate discipline, telephone monitoring, and
selected grievances. “Contract prisons also had higher rates of assaults, both by inmates on other inmates and by inmates on
staff,” the report cited, as well as revealing a trend of placing inmates in solitary confinement simply because they ran out of
space, which is a blatant violation of the use and protocol of solitary confinement. (Williams) Finally, private prisons report a
“higher rates of assaults, both by inmates on other inmates and by inmates on staff.” Clearly, the interests of for-profit prisons
are not on behalf of the people unlucky enough to land in them. (7)
Finally, (6) the advent of privately run prisons has contributed to the rise of incarceration overall--to mass incarceration, in
particular of people of color, illegal immigrants, poor whites, and females.(4)When a business is looking to supply itself with
inventory, it must buy, trade or create its own. In the case of private prisons, their owners are exploiting a society whose
established systems are still running on the gas of Jim Crow, economic and cultural hierarchy, and anti-immigration, supplying
them with a steady stream of human beings from which to make money. The demographics profile of all US prisons, public and
private, speaks for itself, revealing a racial and ethnic disparity of incarceration:(5)
First, though the US has only 5 percent of the world population, it accounts for 25 percent of the world's prisoners with 2.4
million people behind bars. This number indicates a 500 percent increase over 30 years. (AFSC) Of that, a look at the past two
decades shows a trend of targeting minority populations. In 2008, 37 percent of black high-school dropouts were incarcerated.
In 2009, the federal government held over 380,000 people in immigration custody. (AFSC) According to the Sentencing Project
in its October 2021 reporting, nationally black Americans are imprisoned in state prisons at almost 5 times the rate of white
Americans; one in 81 black adults in the U.S. is incarcerated. And among 12 states, over half the prison population is black:
Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina,
and Virginia. Regarding, Latinx individuals, they are incarcerated in state prisons at a rate that is 1.3 times the rate of whites,
according to the Sentencing Project. Among the immigrant detention population, 40,634 people – 81% of the detained
population – were confined in privately run facilities in 2019. The privately detained immigrant population grew 739% from 2002
to 2019. (Nellis)(5) If these numbers are not disturbing enough, some of what drives them certainly is. (6)
Minority populations, including women, have always been targeted and persecuted in various ways across the globe and
throughout history.(6)But a 2013 report by In the Public Interest, a national nonprofit research and policy organization, reveals
the fuel driving mass incarceration is secure and profitable contracts.(4)The study looked at 21 states and its 62 private prison
contracts. Disturbingly, the contracts include a requirement that the state supply a steady stream of prisoners to fill beds 80-100
capacity at all times, called a “bed guarantee.” Failing to do so, the state must pay the owning corporation a fine. (Bowling) Of
course, such a business arrangement incentivizes state legal systems to send prisoners to private prisons, disregarding
location, security level, or health as well as to give sentences to prisoners at all.(5)This is a perverse financial incentive, and
clearly offers anyone with a conscience something else to consider regarding doing away with the private prison system as a
for-profit enterprise.(6)
Man’s inhumanity to man knows no boundaries, it seems. However, fortunately mankind’s compassion and sense of social
justice and equality for all is also alive and well. Several entities are working toward ending mass incarceration, such as
President Biden’s executive order to phase out the Justice Department’s use of private prisons and New York City’s program
with Goldman-Sachs to invest in Rikers Island inmate civilian life reentry programs to reduce recidivism. But a main tact society
needs to take is working harder to create a society that doesn’t need prisons, that works toward equality and health and equal
opportunity for all, and thereby curbing crime. For as Julia Bowling writes, “To both reduce mass incarceration and get the most
out of taxpayer money, policymakers should restructure these financial incentives and tie funding more directly to results proven
to improve public safety.”(8)
Works Cited
Bowling, Julia. “Do Private Prison Contracts Fuel Mass Incarceration?” Brennan Center for Justice, September 2013,
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/do-private-prison-contracts-fuel-mass-incarceration. Accessed
November 8, 2021.
Kerwin, P. “Study Finds Private Prisons Keep Inmates Longer, Without Reducing Future Crime.” University of Wisconsin News,
June 2015, https://news.wisc.edu/study-finds-private-prisons-keep-inmates-longer-without-reducing-future-crime/.
Accessed October 29, 2021.
Nellis, A. “The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity in State prisons.” The Sentencing Project, October 2021,
https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/color-of-justice-racial-and-ethnic-disparity-in-state-prisons/. Accessed
November 3, 2021.
Office of the Inspector General. “Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Monitoring of Contract Prisons.” U.S. Department of
Justice, Aug. 2016, https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2016/e1606.pdf. Accessed October 20, 2021.
“Prisons.” The American Friends Service Committee, 2018, https://investigate.afsc.org/prisons
“Private Prison Companies Want You Locked Up.” Justice Policy Institute, June 2011, https://justicepolicy.org/press/private-
prison-companies-want-you-locked-up/
Sawyer, W. “Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2020.” Prison Policy Initiative, March 2020,
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2020.html. Accessed November 1, 2021
Williams, T. “Inside a Private Prison: Blood, Suicide and Poorly Paid Guards.” The New York Times. April 2018,
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/03/us/mississippi-private-prison-abuse.html. Accessed October 30, 2021.
1. Hook
2. Background/context
3. Thesis
4. Topic sentence: Argument Point
5. Support: Evidence
6. Summary sentence/transition
7. Counterargument/rebuttal
8. Leave readers on a thoughtful note
Last modified: Wednesday, November 10, 2021, 12:37 PM
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