Emergency Preparedness in US Prisons and Public-Private Partnerships Research Paper

Emergency Preparedness in US Prisons and Public-Private Partnerships - Research Paper Example It is therefore imperative that US prisons partners with private partners to increase and improve emergency preparedness. 3 This research paper identifies and analyses the special emergency risks associated with US prison systems, its current emergency preparedness regime and the philosophical underpinnings that drive the existing emergency preparedness regime. Finally, and more importantly, this paper investigates the utility of public/private partnerships for improving upon US prisons’ emergency preparedness systems. 3 Emergencies are difficult to predict and even where they are predicted, the outcomes can rarely be precisely anticipated. Prisoners in particular are a unique problem for prison staff in that prisons are already on high alert for prison-like emergencies such as riots, hostage situations, and more importantly prison escapes. Complicating matters for prisons, overcrowding adds a new set of risks that can lead to new emergencies or exacerbate existing emergencies. This is particularly so because the ratio of prison staff to prisoners is entirely unsafe and unsatisfactory. It is therefore imperative that US prisons partners with private partners to increase and improve emergency preparedness. This research paper identifies and analyses the special emergency risks associated with US prison systems, its current emergency preparedness regime and the philosophical underpinnings that drive the existing emergency preparedness regime. Finally, and more importantly, this paper investigates the utility of public/private partnerships for improving upon US prisons’ emergency preparedness systems. In the last decade, the US experienced a number of man-made and natural disasters ranging from the terrorist attacks in 2001, successive hurricanes in Florida in 2004 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. As a result, the American public has grown to expect more of emergency preparedness systems (Kapucu & VanWart, 2006). It is hardly surprising that