In this regard, Fathi adds that the Standards stipulate that: "When private facilities are used, the Standards require multiple means of oversight, including applicability of freedom of information laws; contract provisions for oversight; and on-site monitoring by the contracting agency" (2010, p. 1455).

Further complicating the debate over which is better is the fact that private prisons are increasingly being used for Homeland Security purposes in ways that create further transparency issues and allow these privately operated facilities to avoid intensive scrutiny. For instance, Handley (2011) reports that Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), "the private prison industry's largest company, has contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Marshal Service, and is also the nations largest detainer of undocumented immigrants" (2011, p. 9). On the one hand, critics of private prison corporation such as CCA argue that the privatization of this function of the justice system is subverting...
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