Private Prisons and Interest GroupsPrivately owned prisons began to emerge in the mid-1980s. These prisons emerged due to the ideological imperatives of the free market, the enormous increase in the number of prisoners, and the substantial increase in the costs of imprisonment. (1) Proponents of prison privatization make a simple case: the private sector can do it more cheaply and efficiently. Companies like Correction Corporation of America and Wackenhut promised design and management innovations without reducing costs or sacrificing quality of service. (1) Many interest groups consisting of prison officers, trade unions and some citizen groups strongly oppose the privatization of the prison system. I will identify four of these groups that oppose private prisons, describe what each tried to accomplish, how they did it, and the extent to which they were successful. AFSCME Corrections United (or ACU) is an affiliate of the labor movement group known as the American Federation of State, City and Municipal Employees. This group is made up of 60,000 correctional officers and 20,000 correctional employees. They joined forces in a union to fight for better pay and benefits, for safe workplaces, and to uphold the standard of professionalism in their field. (2) AFSCME Corrections United claims that private prisons threaten public and worker safety and steal from taxpayers. They launched a national campaign to urge lawmakers to keep prisons in public hands and to educate the public about the dangers of private prisons. This group used methods such as conducting media campaigns, writing letters, trying to pass laws, putting pressure on government officials and engaging in appropriate action... middle of paper......g/history.htmlOECD "Many Fronts to the Debate on prison privatization. July 31, 1998. http://www.ocsea.org/news/press_release_4.htmlOCSEA “State Correctional Employees Group to Induct Senator Hagan Monday” April 24, 1998. http://www.ocsea.org /news/press_release_0.htmlOPSEU-Lock Talk December 30, 1999http://www.opseu.org/ops/ministry/locktalk/locktalkDec30.htmOPSEU-Lock Talk January 21, 2000http://www.opseu.org/ops/ministry/locktalk /locktalkjan21.htmOPSEU-Lock Talk February 18, 2000http://www.opseu.org/ops/ministry/locktalk/locktalkfeb18.htmOPSEU-Lock Talk March 10, 2000http://www.opseu.org/ops/ministry/locktalk/locktalkmar10 .htmSmith, Phil. "Private Prisons: Crime Profits." 1993