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The Low-Lying Fruit.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
Government Spending: You'd think a state that's $20 billion in the hole would keep all its options open for cutting costs, especially where the costs are most out of control. Think again.
In California, three of nine private prisons were scheduled to close at year-end, and the future of the remaining six is murky. All are minimum security. The for-profit institutions were added to the system at a time when overcrowding was a problem. Now, correctional officers say, there are fewer low-security inmates, so there's less need for the facilities that house them.
But this makes private prisons sound like some ad hoc solution to a temporary problem -- much like the portable classrooms thrown up to accommodate schoolchildren in districts where enrollments have exceeded estimates.
It doesn't take into account efficiencies achieved by contracting with the private sector for services even as untraditional as housing felons. The last figures we saw -- from the National Center for Policy Analysis -- indicated a 5% to 15% savings in private management of prison units. (The savings in construction costs was put at 20%.)
Many arguments can no doubt be made for and against private prisons. It isn't our purpose to get into them here. What we're concerned about is California's spending problem, which -- despite a popular new governor with many big ideas -- has not gone away.
The prisons are a big part of the problem. They spend $5 billion a year, and last we heard they were running $545 million over budget. For a little perspective, that's believed to be largest deficit ever incurred by a ...
- State punishment and private prisons.
- Magazine article from: Duke Law Journal Dolovich, Sharon December 1, 2005 700+ words
...ABSTRACT To date, the debate over private prisons has focused largely on the relative efficiency of private prisons as compared to their publicly...prisons as presently constituted nor private prisons in the form currently on offer...
- Punishment for Profit: Private Prisons/Public Concerns.
- Magazine article from: Canadian Journal of Criminology McMahon, Maeve January 1, 1997 700+ words
...California: Sage. 1995. Debates about private prisons are highly charged. On the one hand...cost-efficient and other virtues of private prisons. On the other hand, critics of private prisons make arguments which seem more emotional...
- Thinking about private prisons.
- Magazine article from: Criminal Justice Ethics Lippke, Richard L. January 1, 1997 700+ words
...province of the state. But the growth in private prisons indicates that, to some extent...relations and those exemplified by the private prisons boom.1 It is quite possible to conceive...prisons along a range of dimensions, private prisons fare no worse than public ones and...
- AUDITORS ASSAIL PRIVATE PRISONS REPORT SAYS STATE'S CONTRACTED LOCKUPS RIFE...
- Newspaper article from: Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO) Tankersley, Jim June 14, 2005 700+ words
...Rocky Mountain News Colorado's private prisons are riddled with problems that allowed...report alleges that operators of five private prisons broke provisions of their contracts...Pueblo West, a leading critic of private prisons, said legislators need to crack down...
- Colorado Committee Airs Concerns over Reliance on Private Prisons.
- Newspaper article from: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Malone, Patrick August 25, 1999 700+ words
...becomes more reliant on the services of private prisons. In a report issued to the JBC during...interest in saving money by incorporating private prisons more prominently into the state...accepting higher-risk prisoners at private prisons, according to Ziegler's projections...
- DOC lax about private prisons.
- Newspaper article from: Pueblo Chieftain (Pueblo, Colorado) June 14, 2005 700+ words
...Corrections has been lax in its oversight of private prisons, and has ignored known problems for...knew about specific problems with how private prisons were being operated, but did little...audit said. "Noted violations by the private prisons are not being addressed by the ...
- Private prisons, public questions.
- Newspaper article from: Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM) January 13, 2007 700+ words
...asked about New Mexico's reliance on private prisons, Gilbert Gallegos, a spokesman for...Richardson "inherited all of the existing private prisons." The state started using private...Wackenhut was contracted to build and run private prisons in Hobbs and Santa Rosa. Gallegos...
- Holding private prisons accountable: a socio-legal analysis of "contracting...
- Magazine article from: Social Justice Gran, Brian Henry, William September 22, 2007 700+ words
...2002), THE RAPID ESTABLISHMENT of private prisons over the last few decades (Ratliff...entities can (Gilman, 2001). In private prisons, the public functions of punishment...article, we compare contracts for private prisons in Australia, Canada, and the United...
