Prisons are factories, they're factories for crime; Has the Pentecost Church open the floodgates on the discussion on a Prison industry complex?

A little reading on “ the prison industrial complex”, will help many situate the gesture of the Pentecost church in a proper context.

Crime is an inevitable part of society, which I’m sure we all agree to by now. That no matter how we look at it, our human nature, right from the days of Adam and Eve in the Bible, humans have always had an instinct of crime doted all around history.

But the earth has evolved so has crime and punishment. From God’s anger against Adam and Eve to head-cutting of offenders in Roman, Greek, Hitlers-Germany and what have you. We as humans have always decided for ourselves what we wish to do at every point of the evolution process in terms of punishment for crimes.

We have also succeeded in dividing these crimes into various departments depending on how we look at it severity.

It’s on the back of this evolution process that, states, all over the world decided to house those who offend the law, which has now become what we call prisons. Holding those who act contrary to our laws in custody and put in place some necessary measures including training men and women to provide protection at these prisons at the expense of the taxpayer.

Fast forward from that, this Prison system has evolved just like any other we used to have. It’s called the Prison industrial complex. To put it simply, due to pressure on the state, and lack of capability to manage these prisons to meet its primary purpose of a correction facility, the state together with other stakeholders decide to outsource prisons to private individuals to help support the management process.

There’s a lot of literature on those who support this new proposal and those against it. But the bottom line is, it’s been adopted and practiced in other jurisdictions, US is one of such examples.

This has turned Prisons from merely a state-sponsored facility for crime control into a full-fledged business that private people in other jurisdictions invest in heavily.

It has opened up a lot on it value chain businesses, in telecommunication, which provides communication services in prisons, bail bond agents, and bail bond insurance companies that provide bail services to those who can’t afford it, health care providers, prison construction and maintenance companies, case management technology firms and several other such entities are now involve in this industrial complex and with huge employment opportunities.

Because unlike ours, other societies are at the point where they agree that, crime is an inevitable part of society of which the state alone can’t manage successfully and requires private partnerships if we truly want to tackle crime and manage those we sent to prison to come out as refined and not crude.

While like many moral societies, some people with their moral standards argue that, Prison shouldn’t be an investment for profit opportunity, others hold the view that, in as much as crime has become an inevitable part of society no matter how hard we try to control it, there ought to be a need to have a better management of those we keep in our prisons, whether private or public.

That’s how other countries came to the necessary conclusion to invite Private business people into Prison management.

What the Pentecost church has done is nothing close to an industry complex yet, but it’s a charitable gesture that has opened discussions to a more complex discussion at dealing with our congested and badly managed prison which are supposed to be correctional centers. The church some may argue should promote compassion, forgiveness and all the other Biblical values.

But what’s more compassionate than helping to provide a well-decongested facility that houses those who fail to meet the needed legal standards on crime.

Maybe, the Pentecost church is inviting all of us to move from charity and invite the church and businesses to invest in private prisons. Is our country ready for such a system, this discussion is opened for the future. I’m happy we are here.