Why You Shouldn't Send Inmates to Private Prisons

Vermont sends a bunch of its prisoners, including those held for misdemeanor offenses, out of state to private prisons in Tennessee and Kentucky, where they have experience all sorts of problems. Now, the Vermont DOC has to install inspectors at the facilites these inmates are at because of the abysmally poor care, programming, and security the inmates receive. Complaints from the inmates primarily revolve around the absence of counseling, programming, vocational, and educational opportunities. As Defender General in the Vermont Prisoners' Rights Office Matthew Valerio properly points out, "these offenders are going to come back to Vermont and they're going to bring these problems back with them," which will wind up costing Vermont more than it saved by privatizing prisons, in the long run. Privatizing is just never, ever a good idea