Outcome-based prisons

Surprisingly few people seem to know about what is probably the most far-reaching aspect of Obamacare -- it shifts "payment for services", which was the basis of US medical insurance for last 30 years, to "payment for outcomes". Under Obamacare, if a person goes to an emergency room, gets treated, and within 30 days winds up in emergency room again for the same condition, the ER is not reimbursed the second time because they screwed up the first time.

Many people complain about privately run prisons in US, and they have excellent reasons to do so. Aside from everything else, privately run prisons have an incentive not to reduce recidivism -- an inmate who is released is a loss of income; if he comes back into system, income gets restored.

So here is my proposal: Keep prisons privately run, but make them outcome-based. First time around, an inmate is paid for by the state. If he is released, re-offends, and ends up back in the prison, the company which runs the prison is now responsible for his upkeep. If the nature of his second offence is such that he ends up in a different jurisdiction (different state, or federal vs. state prison), then the company which runs the original prison is responsible. Change the current perverse incentive to not rehabilitate prisoners into an incentive to rehabilitate them.

What do you all think?

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1IFhucf