Another incident of brutality captured on videotape has sparked an investigation against a Texas prison and a lawsuit against the county that contracted with it. A video surfaced depicting guards brutalizing inmates at the Brazoria County Detention Center who had been recently transferred from overcrowded prisons in Missouri. The detention center is owned and managed by a for-profit corporation, Capital Correctional Resources, Inc. (CCRI) under contract with Brazoria County. The video, which had been taped during a routine drug search, showed guards kicking the inmates, forcing them to crawl on the floor, sicking guard dogs on them and prodding a prisoner's buttocks with a stun gun.

The FBI has launched an investigation into alleged civil rights violations stemming from the incident, as well as other allegations of abuses at other facilities CCRI owns. Since the video came to light, it has been revealed that a number of guards and wardens at state-run and private prisons in Texas -- including a guard involved in the Brazoria incident -- were previously punished for abusing inmates under their charges. The state of Missouri has sued Brazoria County for failing to cooperate in Missouri's investigation of the alleged abuse. Missouri and other states have begun transferring hundreds of prisoners back to their own prisons in response to the incident. It was surely of small comfort to the abused prisoners to learn that the video, shot by a sheriff's deputy, had been made into a training program as an example for guards of "what not to do" during a prison uprising.

Who Runs This Place, Anyway?

Another, more controversial response to the problem of overcrowding is the emergence of private, for-profit prisons. Many people are surprised to learn that a great number of prisons in this country are not run by the state, but are owned and operated by private companies under contract from federal, state or local governments. Indeed, as demand for more prison space grows, the corrections business has become a hot new growth industry. From secure mental health facilities to INS deportation centers to maximum security prisons, correctional facilities are being constructed, maintained and managed by private firms. These companies are generally paid a set amount per day, per prisoner from the government agency that would otherwise be running the prison. Many also sell shares of stock to the public. Wackenhut and the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) are two of the biggest players, with over 30 detention centers between the two. There are plenty of smaller companies in on the action as well, including CCRI, the corporation that owns the Brazoria facility.

Manipulating a Captive Market

But critics of the burgeoning private prison system argue that efficiency isn't the issue. While private prisons may be able to turn a profit, they can only do so by keeping their jails full -- an incentive that may be unfair to the prisoners. For example, many suspect that inmates in private prisons have a harder time earning "good time" points that would shorten their sentences. And some accuse private prisons of neglecting efforts to rehabilitate inmates, since the prisons earn more when released prisoners become repeat offenders. The per-prisoner pay structure raises a serious question as to whether private prisons are in society's best interest.

While federal, state and county officials do oversee private prisons to ensure that they comply with local laws and regulations, and the state and federal Constitution, this oversight does not prevent all abuses, as the incident in Brazoria County shows. And as more companies, governments, contracts and agreements become involved in incarcerating prisoners, it becomes harder to pin down responsibility for abuses and civil rights violations.

Propriety vs. Profit