Privatize, privatize, privatization of anything owned or controlled by the public or taxpayers is again being applied by Conservatives from coast to coast. Sadly through the manipulations of ALEC and their thousands of legislative and corporate members, this agenda that began way back in the 80's is once again being used to usurp more public assets. These assets include publicly built prisons, work-release centers, medical care facilities, schools and a myriad assortment of other buildings, programs and initiatives that now exists due to public funding.
ALEC claims that corporations can run and operate these necessary programs and prisons more efficiently than public employees. They claim this will reduce government staffing and thus government payrolls and somehow make us all safer (corrections), smarter (school voucher programs), our kids better trained to enter the workplace (repeal of child labor laws) and help reduce municipal, city, state and county costs (using inmates in place of public employees).
Like any other pyramid scheme turned lose on society, this one is well funded by the likes of Koch Industries and their owners, Charles and David Koch, AT&T and other communications and telecom companies, PhaRma and related pharmaceutical manufacturers. It is well advertised to the public through Republican and Conservative PAC's such as Heritage Foundation, Reason Foundation, Americans for Prosperity Foundation, and includes the professional opinions of researchers and scholars provided by such as the CATO Institute, Manhattan Institute,Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment, Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy and the Tax Foundation.