British Parliamentary Debate Extensions

Motion: THW privatize prisons

1. CG

Why government incentives fundamentally misalign with the betterment of prisoners

OG comes up and tells you here why government prisons are bad but never really tell you why
especially when it is heavily contested by OO. On CG, we’re going to tell you why structurally
government prisons can not get any better and why private organizations have better incentives
breaking the deadlock that existing in the opening half:

Problem: 1. When governments fund many different projects, they believe that they do not really
have any incentive to fund prisoners. This is because:

a. Governments tend to prioritize funding aspects that generate more assets for the nation, such as
education, employment, agriculture and manufacturing etc., over prisons.

b. They have no political incentive for these prisoners to be given a better quality of life as the
perpetrators are often only painted in a tone of being violators of social order.

Consequences: 1. Poor funding often results in provision of bad facilities for prisoners such as
inadequate sanitary conditions, poor food quality etc., which results in the creation of a poor
environment, such as formation of gangs, everyday assaults etc. This takes away the moral learning
experience for these prisoners to understand why it was wrong for them to perpetrate whatever
action they did in the first place because they hardly get to immerse themselves in an environment
which changes them for the better.

Solvency: 1. Since private corporations are put under contracts, it gives them an active incentive to
ensure that the facilities and conditions for the prisoners are much better, as it ultimately profits
them.

Impact: 1. Prisons would be well equipped with facilities, which would ensure that the prisoners get
at least good quality, basic necessities. How this helps also lies in the fact that amenities such as
better hygiene facilities would ensure prisoners stay healthy and do not fall sick often.

2. Prisoners would be subjected to better rehabilitation programs. This would ensure that:

a. Their reintegration into the society is easier.

b. Less crimes take place.

CO

Why privatization is more likely to further deteriorate the condition of the prisons

Problem: 1. Private corporations do not need to be transparent about the developments that they
have made, nor are they answerable to anyone except the shareholders of that particular corp.
Consequence: 1. It gives absolutely no guarantee that the private corporations will take any
necessary steps to improve the prison system at all, which pushes the prisoners into an even worse
off state, difficult to get out of.

Solvency: 1. Governments have the incentive to improve the conditions of prisons from a political
standpoint. This is mainly because of the impression it would create on the public. This impression
looks something like “Oh wow, look how much the government cares about the prisoners and wants
to make them into better people so that the country can develop much faster.” Hence, this would
make them get more votes.

Impact: Conditions in prisons get much better and it becomes an active initiative for the government
to ensure that this happens efficiently.
2. CO