The Modes of Provision of Prison Services in a Comparative Perspective
Journal Title: BAR: Brazilian Administration Review - Year 2008, Vol 5, Issue 1
Abstract
This paper aims to compare the performance of two modes of provision of prison services: public, and with the participation of private companies. There are few empirical studies concerning the alternative modes of governance in this sector, which differs from other public utilities in that there is an absence of network externalities and scale economies. In addition, an understanding of informal institutions is crucial for the performance of the service provider, either public or private. In this paper, we build a comparative analysis of two case studies of similar correctional facilities, one public and the other outsourced to a private company under the supervision of civil servants (hybrid governance structure), both located in the same region of Brazil. We found that the privately operated facility has achieved better performance indicators (in terms of number of escapes, riots, deaths, assistance to inmates etc.) than the public facility, which in part refutes the arguments of Hart, Shleifer and Vishny (1997) against private participation in prison services. We conclude that the reasons for these differences are related to lower levels of administrative controls; to the presence of civil servants within the privately operated prison, which contributes to reducing information asymmetries; to greater incentives for the private operator: to monitor employees, to bypass local judiciary constraints and to fulfill contractual obligations.
Authors and Affiliations
Cabral, Sandro; Azevedo, Paulo F.
Analysis of Innovation and Its Environmental Impacts on the Chemical Industry
Globalization of the economy and the need to achieve competitiveness drive organizations to invest in technology and in innovation, in order to find solutions that will provide advantages in an ever-more competitive mar...
Innovative Self-concept of Micro-entrepreneurs: Perception of Barriers and Intention to Invest
The research presented below examines micro-entrepreneur conditions that relate to their innovative self-concept and the effect of this self-concept on the perception of barriers to entrepreneurship and intention to inv...
Credit Card Risk Behavior on College Campuses: Evidence from Brazil
College students frequently show they have little skill when it comes to using a credit card in a responsible manner. This article deals with this issue in an emerging market and in a pioneering manner. University stude...
A Socio-Environmental Development Programme in Action in Brazilian Amazonia
This paper deals with the process of scaling up and scaling down grassroots demands through a state-sponsored socio-environmental development programme in Brazilian Amazonia called Proambiente (Pro-environment). The pa...
Scholarly Management Knowledge in the Periphery: Argentina and Brazil in Comparative Perspective (1970-2005)
This paper examines academic management knowledge in two developing countries, Argentina and Brazil. It shows that the level of scholarliness of this type of knowledge varies greatly within countries with a similar deg...