Private prisons in the world's incarceration capital The US state of Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the world. To deal with such a high number of prisoners, and to keep costs down, it uses private contractors to detain low-risk inmates and those awaiting sentencing. While this may save money, critics say private prisons don’t provide the re-training programmes that state facilities do, and that running prisons for profit skews justice system priorities. A natural sound AFPTV report.