My Introduction to Private Probation Services: I Learn
Justice should not be Sacrificed at the Table of Free Enterprise

(Note: This story warrants an update, but it will need to wait until next week, and will probably be a new post. Some of my feelings have changed.)
   So, you've heard of private prisons. Let me introduce you to private probation services.
   I don't know that I'd ever heard of them until discovering a roommate was on house arrest, which was being administered by a private entity. It raised my eyebrow that as the owner of the home where the house arrest was taking place, I had not been notified by the court.
   Guess they don't have to tell me. It's none of my business.
   Well, I called them. I didn't suppose it could do my roommate any harm if there wasn't a requirement that I be notified. So, yes, I called to find out more of what was going on. That he had said he didn't want to talk about the matter when I asked questions hadn't set well with me. Well, days later, I came home to find him upset with me, that I should call the ankle monitor people. He told me it was none of my business. And, a few more days later, they called him into the office and took the ankle monitor off.
   Now, I'm waiting to see if he will still have to pay the $1,400 fine. I've never been a big fan of charging criminals large fines. They are harder pressed to find jobs than the rest of us, as many will not employ them, and then we hit them with fines? It might be a good enough thing to do if we provide the jobs so they could earn the money, but, no, beyond that, it is not a good maneuver.
   My roommate lost the job he had just barely acquired. Don't know whether they found out he was on the ankle monitor program, but I wonder. 
   From what I can tell so far, the fine is the only thing left. I could be wrong. Maybe my call to Sandy City prompted them to take the contractor off the case. I'm waiting to see. I'm guessing this, though: If the private firm is still administering the case, whatever changes are made to the sentence, that contractor will get its money. While the $1,400 fine might be reduced, the share going to the private firm will not. I could be wrong. We'll see.
   So, you can see my introduction to the world of private probation services has not enamored me towards them. I do wonder if somewhere in our country's history, someone thought of providing these services as a way of making a dollar. Of course, you say, that is true (of course it is what happened). And, of course, I say, that is wrong (it is wrong for this to be a matter of making a buck). 
   I think the reformation of the prisoner should be our foremost concern. And, I worry that with private probation services, the foremost concern becomes that the contractor gets money out of the prisoner.
   America is a great place, but too often we turn everything into a way of making a buck. We worship free enterprise in this land. But, though free enterprise can be wonderful, justice should not be sacrificed at its altar.