If there are countries paying prison companies for number of prisoners held... then don't. Its basic economics of perverse incentive.
Instead, pay prison system for the number of years that a prisoner doesn't re-offend. This will be done in a logarithmic graph, up to the max that we are willing to pay to have the prisoner not re offend at a future date.
So now, instead of private prison being paid to hold prisoners, they are being paid to keep prisoners out of prison.
Nothing more said.-- mofosyne, Jul 14 2013 Care miles?-- Ling, Jul 14 2013 Heck, cut out the middle man. Pay prisoner not to reoffend! Payment to prisoner would be scaled according to potential profit accrued by reoffense - so public urination would be worth only a few $ / month, but forgery would probably be worth several thousand / month.-- bungston, Jul 14 2013 You ain't seen nothin until you've been in an /American/ prison. Lemme tell ya They're so desperate to keep people from coming back in, it's just about the closest thing to Hell on Earth in there. Made the time I did in Istanbul look like Disneyland by comparison.-- ytk, Jul 14 2013 Contrary to popular belief making prisons hellish is actually ineffective in preventing recidivism. For evidence look at the difference between recidivism rates between US and European jails.-- Voice, Jul 14 2013 random, halfbakery