Prisons - Privatization Of Prisons

Rising prison populations and the need to expand the prison system in the states has led to calls for privatization in this sphere as in others (telecommunications, FIGURE 4.1
Percent of convicted felons who received a prison sentence, 1994–2002
SOURCE: Adapted from Matthew R. Durose and Patrick A. Langan, "Percent of Convicted Felons Who Received a Prison Sentence, 1994–2002," in Felony Sentences in State Courts, 2002, Bureau of Justice Statistics, December 2004, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/fssc02.pdf (accessed March 31, 2005) electric power). The basic assumption behind this movement is that the private sector is inherently more efficient and flexible than public bureaucracies because it is less constrained by regulations and is more cost effective. Private facilities also save the public the initial costs of prison construction, since those costs are assumed by private contractors. This saves the government from taking on long-term debt in order to build housing for more prisoners. In this view, a privatized or even a partially privatized corrections system would cost taxpayers less TABLE 4.6
Drug offenders in the federal prison population, 1970–2002
SOURCE: Kathleen Maguire and Ann L. Pastore, editors, "Table 6.54. Federal Prison Population, and Number and Percent Sentenced for Drug Offenses," in Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, Bureau of Justice Statistics, August 2004, http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/t654.pdf (accessed March 31, 2005)

		Sentenced population
			Drug offenses
	Total sentenced and unsentenced population	Total	Number	Percent of total
1970	21,266	20,686	3,384	16.3%
1971	20,891	20,529	3,495	17.0
1972	22,090	20,729	3,523	16.9
1973	23,336	22,038	5,652	25.6
1974	23,690	21,769	6,203	28.4
1975	23,566	20,692	5,540	26.7
1976	27,033	24,135	6,425	26.6
1977	29,877	25,673	6,743	26.2
1978	27,674	23,501	5,981	25.4
1979	24,810	21,539	5,468	25.3
1980	24,252	19,023	4,749	24.9
1981	26,195	19,765	5,076	25.6
1982	28,133	20,938	5,518	26.3
1983	30,214	26,027	7,201	27.6
1984	32,317	27,622	8,152	29.5
1985	36,042	27,623	9,491	34.3
1986	37,542	30,104	11,344	37.7
1987	41,609	33,246	13,897	41.8
1988	41,342	33,758	15,087	44.7
1989	47,568	37,758	18,852	49.9
1990	54,613	46,575	24,297	52.2
1991	61,026	52,176	29,667	56.9
1992	67,768	59,516	35,398	59.5
1993	76,531	68,183	41,393	60.7
1994	82,269	73,958	45,367	61.3
1995	85,865	76,947	46,669	60.7
1996	89,672	80,872	49,096	60.7
1997	95,513	87,294	52,059	59.6
1998	104,507	95,323	55,984	58.7
1999	115,024	104,500	60,399	57.8
2000	123,141	112,329	63,898	56.9
2001	131,419	120,829	67,037	55.5
2002	139,183	128,090	70,009	54.7
Note: These data represent inmates housed in Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities; inmates housed in contract facilities are not included. Data for 1970-76 are for June 30; beginning in 1977, data are for September 30.

money. Corrections functions, however, are ultimately vested in governmental hands, and private prisons must operate under established rules and regulations. The complexity of corrections activities is such that comparisons between private and public facilities are very difficult to make, and the cost savings achieved by private corrections are in dispute because the evidence is inconclusive.

Speaking before the National Conference of State Legislatures in July 2000 in Chicago, J. Michael Quinlan of the Corrections Corporation of America, the leading private prison company, cited statistics from the 1999 Corrections Yearbook (Middletown, CT: Criminal Justice Institute, Inc., 1999) stating that, in 1998, public prisons cost $56.51 per day to operate per prisoner whereas private prison costs were $43.00 per TABLE 4.7
Sentences imposed and time served, 1994, 1998, and 2002
SOURCE: Adapted from Matthew R. Durose and Patrick A. Langan, "Sentences Imposed and Time Served, 1994, 1998, and 2002," in Felony Sentences in State Courts, 2002, Bureau of Justice Statistics, December 2004, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/fssc02.pdf (accessed March 31, 2005)

	1994	1998	2002
Average imposed prison sentence length (in months)
All offenses	71 mo	57 mo	53 mo
Murder	269	263	225
Robbery	116	106	91
Aggravated assault	79	66	54
Burglary	69	52	50
Larceny	45	37	34
Drug trafficking	66	54	55
Percent of imposed prison sentence actually served
All offenses	38%	47%	51%
Murder	47	52	63
Robbery	44	51	58
Aggravated assault	46	57	66
Burglary	35	45	49
Larceny	37	45	52
Drug trafficking	32	41	45
Estimated actual time to be served in prison (in months)
All offenses	27 mo	27 mo	27 mo
Murder	127	136	142
Robbery	51	54	53
Aggravated assault	36	38	36
Burglary	24	24	24
Larceny	17	17	18
Drug trafficking	21	22	24

diem. Survey results, however, are not universally accepted in the field of corrections because too many variables make generalizations impossible. While now somewhat dated, Private and Public Prisons—Studies Comparing Operational Costs and/or Quality of Service (Washington, DC: GAO/GGD-96-158, 1996) remains the most comprehensive report on state-sponsored investigations comparing private and public prisons. The following paragraph from the summary provides insight into the difficulties of comparing private and public facilities:

Three of the studies we reviewed (California, Tennessee, and Washington) made comparisons of costs between reasonably matched private and public facilities that were operating within each state that was studied. Of the four private/public comparisons reported in these three studies, two showed no significant differences in operational costs, one showed a 7% difference in favor of the private facility, and the other reported the private facility to be more costly than one public facility but less costly than another public facility. One additional study (Texas) reported a 14% to 15% savings from privatization; however, the analysis for the Texas study was problematic because the comparison was based on hypothetical public facilities, not existing ones. We could not conclude from these studies that privatization of correctional facilities will not save money. However, these studies do not offer substantial evidence that savings have occurred.

TABLE 4.8
Number of sentenced inmates admitted to state prisons, by type of admission, 1990–2002
SOURCE: Paige M. Harrison and Jennifer C. Karberg, "Number of Sentenced Inmates Admitted to State Prisons, by Type of Admission, 1990–2002," in Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2003, Bureau of Justice Statistics, May 2004, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/pjim03.pdf (accessed March 31, 2005)

	State prison admissions
Year	All*	New court commitments	Parole violators
1990	460,739	323,069	133,870
1995	521,970	337,492	175,726
1998	565,291	347,270	206,152
1999	575,415	345,648	198,636
2000	584,643	350,431	203,569
2001	593,838	365,714	215,450
2002	615,377	392,717	207,251
*Based on inmates with a sentence of more than 1 year. Excludes escapes, AWOL's (absent without leave), and transfers to and from other jurisdictions.

A study conducted by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (Emerging Issues on Privatized Prisons, February 2001) found that cost savings were less than anticipated but that the prospect of privatization often was of benefit to those wanting to reform public prisons:

It was discovered that, rather than the projected 20% savings, the average saving from privatization was only about 1%, and most of that was achieved through lower labor costs. Nevertheless, there were indications that the mere prospect of privatization had a positive effect on prison administration, making it more responsive to reform.

Despite resistance to the concept by those who champion government prisons, private prisons have become a growing alternative in many states and in the federal prison system as well. The Bureau of Justice Statistics has been tracking private prisons and prison populations on a consistent basis since 2000. These data show that as a percentage of all inmates under state and federal jurisdiction, the percentage of prisoners in private prisons has stayed at a steady 6.5%. (See Table 4.9.) According to Prisoners in 2003, private prisons held 5.7% of all state prisoners and 12.6% of all federal prisoners.

Table 4.9 also shows that while the overall percentage of private prisoners has remained the same, their numbers have been increasing along with the general prison population. The privately managed prison population grew from 90,542 in 2000 to 95,522 in 2003. Private prisons are estimated to have increased from sixty-seven in 1990 to 264 in 2000, according to the Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 2000 (Bureau of Justice Statistics, August 2003).

TABLE 4.9
Number of inmates in privately operated facilities, 2000–03
SOURCE: Paige M. Harrison and Allen J. Beck, "Number of Inmates in Privately Operated Facilities, 2000 to 2003," in Prisoners in 2003, Bureau of Justice Statistics, November 2004, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/p03.pdf (accessed March 31, 2005)

	Total	State	Federal	Percent of inmates
2003	95,522	73,657	21,865	6.5%
2002	93,912	73,638	20,274	6.5
2001	91,953	72,702	19,251	6.5
2000	90,542	75,018	15,524	6.5

While privatization appears to be driven by a need to find solutions to the high costs of housing prisoners, not least the high capital expenditures required to build new prisons in an era of severe budgetary shortfalls at the state level, it is also evident from the public debate that the privatization issue transcends budgets and cost effectiveness and mirrors the opposing views of those who would rely upon the private sector and those who prefer that officials responsive to the voting public manage the public's business. Both sides acknowledge that the ultimate responsibility for corrections rests with the government. Therefore, government cannot completely privatize corrections; it must always retain at minimum a supervisory responsibility, whereas the private sector cannot act as a purely private entity but must do so as the agent of government under statutes and regulations. Some of the arguments for and against private prisons are presented in Table 4.10.