Discuss a research question of a public administration topic of your choice. What are the potential areas of ethical misconduct that should be considered for your topic? Alternatively, find a recent story about ethical misconduct (falsifying data, falsifying results, data mismanagement, etc.) by researchers from the private or public sector. What are the implications for this misconduct?

REPLY TO MY CLASSMATE RESPONSE TO THE ABOVE QUESTIONS AND EXPLAIN WHY YOU AGREE? (A MINIMUM OF 150 WORDS or MORE)

                                           CLASSMATE’S RESPONSE

Is it more cost effective to have private prisons and jails than those which are publicly run?  Potential areas of ethical misconduct can stem from for-profit prison corporations incentivizing judges to give harsher sentences by offering benefits to prosecutors and judges, further ensuring that prisoners have longer stays in the corrections system and therefore making the private companies even more money.  There is also the issue of for-profit prisons using unethical and/or illegal schemes to maximize profits, as well as adding a facility, whether needed or not in rural areas with plagued by high unemployment rates.  This can boost elected officials standing with their constituents adding employment despite there not being a need for the facility in their area.

In 2017, after vetoing a bill that would have banned private prisons, then Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval signed a $9.2 million, two-year contract with the same company, now known as Core Civic, to house 200 Nevada inmates in a private correctional facility in Arizona.  Within months of their transfer to the facility, some of the inmates went on a hunger strike to protest their treatment.  There were reports of inadequate medical care and mistreatment of inmates at the facility. In addition to the human toll, the hastily thought-out contract is costing Nevada taxpayers an approximate daily rate of between $72.58 and $74.40 per inmate. That far exceeds the daily amount of $58.94 paid pay per inmate in Nevada’s facilities (thenevadaindependent.com, 2018).