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Private Prisons are highly Accountable to the Contracting Agency
Taxpayers, through local, state, and federal contracting agencies should demand the highest possible quality of operations at the lowest possible cost, and they should have recourse if standards are not met. Public-Private Correctional Partnerships ensure that the private operator of a particular facility is held accountable to a much higher degree than are publicly-operated facilities. Private operators must:
- Provide the contracting agency with exactly the types and quality of services defined in the agreement.
- Contracts can, and often do, dictate financial penalties for failure to meet contract standards, or, conversely, provide for financial incentives for superior performance.
- Ultimate accountability is ensured through the contracting agencies' ability to terminate the contract for failure to perform, if standards are not met.
- Submit to government monitoring through on-site reviews and unrestricted access to the facilities.
- Pass annual performance audits conducted by the government.
- Employ in-house self-audits to gauge and document performance.
- Ensure quality assurance and use outside objective accreditation agencies (e.g., the American Correctional Association) to verify performance.
- Compete to earn the privilege of operating a correctional facility, and then re-bid on the contract on a regular basis.
- Operate under the intense scrutiny of the media and anti-privatization groups.
APCTO supports performance-based contracting as an appropriate process for ensuring both quality of service and accountability. Clear and specific contract requirements, coupled with an appropriate monitoring regimen, ensure a degree of accountability which has no parallel in the strictly public systems.
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