Research Summary: Slightly more than half of all states and the federal government currently have contracted with private prison corporations for the incarceration of some of their correctional populations. We use the literature on privatization of prisons to argue that we know surprisingly little about the public's perception of this phenomenon. We summarize what is known from the thin body of research into public opinion in the correctional domain, and then we argue for an expanded research agenda to develop a more extensive (and nuanced) understanding of public perceptions in this context.Policy Implications: Private correctional facilities run by for-profit companies, and the privatization of correctional services beyond institutions, have proliferated despite little knowledge regarding public support for the expansion of privatization in the correctional domain. Given that public opinion, or at least perceptions of those opinions, can directly or indirectly influence policy, we argue that expanding our knowledge of the nature, direction, and malleability of public opinion has substantial policy implications for the future of prison privatization. K E Y W O R D S corrections, for-profit prisons, private prisons, privatization, public opinion, public perception(s), public support According to the authors of a recent Sentencing Project (2018) report, 27 states and the federal government currently incarcerate a portion of their correctional populations in privately owned and operated prisons. Nationally, 8.5% of all those currently incarcerated across the United States are incarcerated in privately owned prisons with New Mexico and Montana leading all other states by incarcerating 43.1% and 38.8% of their prison populations in private prisons, respectively. In 2016,