The Effect of Privatization on Public and Private Prison Lobbies

Private prison firms are often accused of lobbying for incarceration because, like a hotel, they have "a strong economic incentive to book every available room and encourage every guest to stay as long as possible." This accusation has little support, either theoretical or empirical. At worst, the political influence argument is backward: privatization will in fact decrease prison providers' pro-incarceration influence. At best, the argument is dubious: its accuracy depends on facts that proponents of the argument haven't developed