Passage Three

As America’s prison population has exploded, hard-pressed officials have relied on private prisons to house about 5 percent of the nation’s 1.7 million prisoners. But a number of recent incidents have strengthened accusations that for-profit prisons do not always measure up on security and reliability. A judge ordered a Youngstown, Ohio, prison for criminals from Washington, D. C. to remove violent prisoners after 13 stabbings(刺伤案), two of them fatal. Colorado closed a center for lawbreakers after a suicide and evidence that prisoners had been abused. Tennessee legislators have now put on hold a plan to privatize most of that state’s prison system. Last week, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees issued a report charging that private prisons save taxpayers little money and are full of waste and deception (欺骗). The union accused some firms of persuading public officials for profitable contracts and then running substandard facilities. Nashville-based Corrections Corp of America, a privatization leader, insists it can cut costs and operate high-quality prisons. A spokeswoman blanked some problems at its Youngstown unit on errors by Washington, D.C. officials and said the new report reflects union fears of "change and a loss of power". A new test is shaping up in the capital: Congress has voted to put 2 000 more local prisoners in private prisons by mid-1999.

What does the spokeswoman in the last paragraph say