Unions say privatizing prisons leads to escapes
Source: By DANIEL WALSH, Press of Atlantic City (NJ), Friday, May 30, 2008
When a halfway house resident was arrested in Bridgeton two weeks ago for soliciting prostitution, some viewed it simply as odd news. State corrections officers viewed it as a sign of a larger problem, that of privatizing prisons, and Thursday they unleashed a radio campaign hammering on just that
....... The ad focuses on what union leaders describe as a gradual but clear move toward the privatization of prisons. It targets New Jersey's privately run halfway houses, which saw their number of escapes nearly double from 2006 to 2007, according to the state Department of Corrections, but it also criticizes state plans for a privately run Trenton facility to house violent sex offenders and the creation of residential assessment centers to evaluate parole offenders rather than simply sending them back to prison.