3 ms·

Private prisons cost 2-3x as much per prisoner, and the research demonstrates that. Of course they don't cost 2-3x more than an entire state prison system. Eve

• hello_computer 3y ago
  Why won't you cite that research then, instead of these baby numbers--quoting a top estimated savings of under $11M over an entire state system (i.e. with budgets on the order of billions)? The one I originally cited, which was arguing against private prisons, conceded that private prisons were nominally $5,000/yr cheaper than public prisons, but taking the 90-extra-days (on average) spent at private facilities into account incurs a "value of freedom" cost, which they have estimated at $1,000 per sentence. The paper they were paraphrasing[0] from claims, "delayed release erodes half of the cost savings offered by private contracting". In other words, the other half of the cost savings are still intact. Or there's this Brookings paper[1], which is a little more in your favor: > Private prisons cost the state an average of $46.50 per prisoner per day in 2012, while the state’s comparable public facilities ranged from $35.11 to $40.47. Taking the smallest state figure, the private prison is 32% higher; the largest state figure, and the private prison is 15% higher, neither of which are 2-3x more. [0] https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2523238 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2523238 [1] https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/es_20161021_private_prisons_economics.pdf https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/es_2016...