James Parkey on Correctional Privatization: Past, Present, and Future

Private prison authority and President of Corplan Corrections, James Parkey, provides the empirical context for understanding the debate over private prisons, examining their historical origins, present status and future prospects. Intriguingly, Parkey notes that many aspects of the criminal justice system have long been privatized. Many states, for example, house one-third to two-thirds of their interned juveniles in private facilities. Seen in this light, opposition to private prisons is difficult to understand.

Mr. Parkey, owner and founder of Corplan, has extensive experience in all aspects of the practice of architecture and related fields. In his career, Mr. Parkey has been a part of the design and/or development of over 90 corrections, municipal, and state facilities across the United States. He has also served clients in the institutional, healthcare, education, housing, industrial and retail industries.

Throughout his 31-year career, Mr. Parkey has performed services in Construction Administration/Management, Construction Documents, Contract Administration, Design, Programming, Feasibility Studies, Planning and Urban Design, Program & Project Management, Public Service and Administration and he is Seismic qualified.

Parkey argues that the full benefits of prison privatization are threatened by “governmentalization,” i.e., the tendency of contracting agencies to require contractors to run things exactly as a government bureaucracy would, only cheaper. In some cases, private prisons have even been required to have the same menus as their government counterparts! The real benefits of privatization come when private firms are allowed to innovate to find new and better ways of doing things. Flexibility in contract design, however, raises the possibility that private firms will take advantage of the government. Addressing these issues may require careful design of contracts and more attention paid to monitoring outputs rather than inputs. Further diffusion of “best practices,” such as performance incentives and on-site compliance monitors that have developed in twenty years of contracting, can manage these twin difficulties.

Corplan Corrections, one of the U.S. leaders in new prison construction has recently announced that it is developing a design concept for new prison facilities that takes advantage of the latest in environmental technology. Ben Boothe, of Environmental Solutions is the new design concept consultant. "This prison will house 500 inmates, and yet will almost vastly reduced costs for energy needs" said Mr. Parkey.

One of the largest expenses for housing industries, such as prisons, hotels and multi-family projects is the cost of power, and the cost of heating air and water. By use of environmental technologies, Parkey believes that 70-90% of the energy costs will be eliminated. Some of the technologies will be:

• Solar panels will create electricity to take care of lighting needs both for the prison yard and the interior of the prison
  
• Solar water heating units will take care of hot water needs
  
• Specialized insulation in the walls and ceilings will reduce heating and air conditioning requirements
  
• New design concepts will create long term natural storage of heat and cool elements for later use in heating and environmental needs
  
• Water will be recycled, purified by use of large reverse osmosis technology, which will have as a by product, heat. The heat will be used to generate electricity.
  
• Other technologies in equipment and design will make prisons a "green machine" producing not only a clean environment but hopefully better citizens.
  

Corplan recognizes that good utilization of environmental technology is now good economics. "We are pleased to be on the leading edge of this technology" Parkey said.

TRENDS IMPACTING DETENTION AND PRISON FACILITIES

Three major trends have had an important impact upon detention and prison facilities throughout America.

Politically, it has been popular to stand against crime, and as a result voters have demanded that courts and law enforcement officials become more aggressive in apprehending criminals. This has resulted in a reallocation of funds in many communities, to “fight crime”. As a result, there has been an increased level of arrests and need for prison facilities. Nationally, the Federal Government has cut back on spending and allocations to local communities. As a result many communities have sought new sources of income to replace lost federal grants and lost tax revenues. Detention centers, jails, and prisons have become a viable option for replacing or increasing tax revenues. Homeland security has created a law enforcement atmosphere of increased scrutiny, particularly in areas such as Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, bordering Latin America, where the level of illegal immigration is high. Higher arrests and higher detention rates have followed. Also, major transportation hubs such as Miami, New Orleans, New York, Los Angeles, and areas near the Canadian border have also shown higher arrest rates. The result has been higher demand for prison facilities.

The combination of these three national trends has created more demand for prison beds and has made prison facilities financially feasible investments for cities, states, and counties. Prisons or detention facilities that can attract Federal daily allowances usually enjoy the highest per diem rates. State and federal reimbursals are routine, and local cities and counties, can profit, if they maintain high occupancy. The Federal Marshals can allocate prisoners to good and well managed facilities.