If you are an inmate at a private prison and you are shot dead by a guard...

[KansDem]

Who killed you? The State or the Corporation?

[Ms. Yertle]

1. Correct me if I'm wrong,

but I don't think most prison guards carry weapons--of any kind. Too easy for it to fall into the inmates' hands. As a friend who has worked as a prison guard has said, "We run the prison because they let us."

[whatthehey]

2. Erm... the guard

Presumably they have approved policies on when to use deadly force (which by the way is exceedingly unlikely to be by firearm. For obvious reasons they keep guns and anybody in direct contact with violent criminals pretty separate. The guys in the towers may be armed, and there's likely a tightly secured gun cabinet in the case of riots, but the guards in the prison itself never carry guns) which would determine whether it was acceptable or not, in which case it's still the guard, but operating under guidelines approved by both corporation and state.

[CompanyFirstSergeant]

3. Same as private security...

...unless the guards are given LE authority,