Racial composition of private prisons

What is it about?

This article examines the racial pattern of inmate placement in privately operated and publicly operated correctional facilities. The analysis of American adult correctional facilities reveals that, in 2005, White inmates were significantly underrepresented (and Hispanic inmates overrepresented) in private correctional facilities relative to public ones.

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Why is it important?

A growing body of research has documented racial disparities in policing, sentencing, and imprisonment. The present article points to a new manifestation of racial disparity in criminal justice: assignment to correctional facilities. This article is the first to use rigorous, multivariate techniques to document systemic racial differences in the inmate populations of public correctional facilities and private correctional facilities.