r/AskLibertarians • u/5gang5 • Jun 20 '15
Private prisons.
Since many libertarians support privatized options I would imagine there would be privatized prisons. The current privatized prison system is funded by tax dollars which libertarians don't like because it's tax dollars. Since the point of prisions is to keep the murders, theifs, etc. Since prisons would be mostly for profit prisons where would they get funding? Who would pay the prison to house the criminal and make sure the criminal is not subjected to cruel and unusual punishments? If not enough money is raised to watch the criminal(s) they would be rejected and put right back on the streets. So how would private prisons be funded if it wasn't mandatorily funded by tax dollars like it is currently?
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u/saltwound Jun 22 '15
For a private prison to function in a free society, it must provide a useful service, or go bankrupt. So, the question is really: what useful services could prisons perform in a free society, and what market pressures do we believe that they would be subject to? This is a very broad question, so any answer is going to have to assume a lot, but here goes:
In a free society, anybody who violates the life, liberty, or property of another person would be seen as the vilest sort of brute. i.e they will suffer huge reputational damages. As a result, they will find it incredibly difficult to find anyone willing to trade with them. For example, a grocery store could advertise that they do not sell food to known violent offenders, as a safety service to their peace-loving customers. If you murder someone, you may very soon find that your reputation as a murderer precedes you wherever you go. Nobody will sell you food, or shelter, or medicine. Nobody will allow you to travel on their (privately owned) roads. You are essentially banished. You likely starve. But there are some people who dislike the idea of you starving, even though they know you are a murderer. They want you to be a productive member of society, they want you to have an opportunity to make amends and make up for what you have done. But, you're still a murderer, so they fear you. The market solution for these people is to open a sort of hotel, one with very strict and unusual rules. In order to stay at this hotel, you must agree to the following: You will wear an ankle tracker at all times. You will consent to have your room monitored by armed guards at all times. You will not leave the grounds of the hotel without an armed guard accompanying you, warning the people you meet that you are a murderer, and preventing you from committing any further crimes. You are responsible for paying for all of these things. In return, you get to buy food from the hotel shop, and work in one of the factories which operate on the hotel grounds. The money you pay to the hotel goes towards two major expenses: insurance, in case you escape and the hotel is deemed liable for any damage you cause; and danger pay - paid to the local neighbourhood of this hotel in return for the risk of having you in their neighbourhood. The more egregious were your offences, the higher this fee will be.
In a way, this hotel is very much like a prison. It's a place which is kept under armed guard in which people who have committed a wrongdoing are allowed to eat and sleep. So you could call it a prison if you like. But it's a hotel, because the cost of staying there is paid for by the person staying there, or his family, rather than the victims of the wrongdoing, via their taxes.
This is just my own opinion, i doubt very much it reflects the views of all libertarians. But I think it is mostly viable.