Private prisons are here to stay irrespective of empirical findings for or against their existence in the corrections industry. It is necessary, therefore, to step back and consider them on a broader level to assess how they can benefit current penological practice. It will be argued that prison privatization creates an opportunity to reassess the dominant correctional philosophy in America. In particular, the contractual structure of private prisons allows for "what works" in corrections to be built into performance evaluations. The implications of this assertion for private prisons as well as the current status of the rehabilitative ideal will be discussed. (Contains 4 notes.)