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Q&A Interview An interview with state Rep. Al Salvi
Republican believes time is By EMILY WILKERSON Illinois lawmakers are expected to approve politically popular legislation to keep criminals in prison longer. But with a prison system that is packed to 160 percent of capacity, legislators also are being forced to face the financial realities of keeping more inmates locked up for longer terms. Rep. Al Salvi, a Mundelein Republican, is proposing legislation that he believes would help resolve that dilemma. By hiring private companies to construct and operate the facilities, he says the state could build more prisons at a lower cost. In the last 10 years, more than a dozen states have taken to the idea and private prison companies now house nearly 50,000 convicts nationwide. The concept faces formidable opposition in Illinois, however, where a unionized labor force has helped to make Illinois the only state with a law banning the privatization of prisons. Q. Illinois, like many other states, already privatizes many of the services it provides to prisoners in the Illinois Department of Corrections. What is your vision of how far you would like to take the privatization? A. I want to see future prisons constructed by private companies through a bidding process. Statistically, on average, when states take the private route in construction, they save 25 percent. That's a significant savings. We are going to pass this year a truth-in-sentencing bill [requiring inmates to serve more of their sentences] that is going to have a significant impact on the number of prisoners we have. We do not have the money to pay for these prisons. I have been in contact with some of the members of the Senate and it is our goal to tie truth-in-sentencing legislation to the privatization of prisons. If we can do this, we'll make a point and the point is that those who are campaigning on truth-in-sentencing, those who support truth-in-sentencing — and that's just about all of us — also have to face the economic reality that we have to do something to pay for truth-in-sentencing. Q. What can Illinois learn from the experiences of other states that have privatized their prisons? A. The No. 1 lesson is that privatization works. In every state that has privatization there have been fewer escapes. In every state that has privatization there has been greater control over drugs and gangs in the prisons. But the most important thing is that they save money. So, if you really want to know why we should privatize, talk to the states that have privatized. Not one of them has moved one inch away from privatization. They've all gone forward and privatized more as a result of their experience. Q. Why can a private company do a better job than state government? A. It's the profit motive. That's what makes the capital system work. They seek to make a profit and in their quest for profits, they run prisons more efficiently than the state does. Even if they have to pay the same or higher wages, even though they are highly regulated, even though there are inspections and requirements on them that are more stringent than those we impose on our present systems. Q. How new is the idea of privatizing prisons?
A. I think there's sort of an ancient history to it, but in this country it's been around 10 or 15 years only. For example. Corrections Corporation of America — they are the main private prison company — they were founded in 1983, so they are not an old company. Since then, every year, they have grown astronomically. They are in several states and just about every year they are acquiring between 1,000 and 1,500 beds. Q. One of the biggest arguments against privatization is that it's the government's responsibility to punish criminals and we shouldn't be turning that job over to a for-profit company. A. I agree that it's the government's responsibility and we're not just handing everything over to a private company. That's a very important point. We will continue to oversee and regulate, and these private companies have to successfully accomplish all of our goals. They are going to be very much a part of our state system. What we are doing is we are utilizing the benefit of our free market system in order to efficiently meet the needs of the state. Q. How close do you think Illinois is to the point where this has to happen? A. I would say that we were at that point seven or eight years ago. We are well over capacity now and there is a serious threat of a riot in one of our prisons. The overcrowding problem is serious. And we have to ask ourselves, do we want to continue to go down this road where we spend so much money on prisons, without any kind of real results? I think what we need to do is spend less on prisons and demand better results. * Emily Wilkerson is a Statehouse reporter for Copley News Service. 24/May 1995/Illinois Issues |
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