Costs of Operating Public and Private Correctional Facilities (Private Prisons and the Public Interest, P 86-106, 1990, Douglas C McDonald, ed. -- See NCJ-127372)

• NCJ Number: 127376
• Author(s): D C McDonald
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 21 pages
• Sale Source: Rutgers University Press
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

A review of published studies comparing the costs of public and private correctional facilities and new data on the costs of publicly and privately operated detention centers of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service form the basis of this analysis of the relative costs of the two types of operations.

Abstract

The previous studies have produced conflicting results regarding costs, in part because of the lack of agreement on what counts as a cost in both the public and private sectors. In addition, simple comparisons of expenditures overlook differences in services. Nevertheless, the available data suggest that the claims of the private sector's superior cost-effectiveness are less justified than they might first appear. In addition, situations in which differences do appear to exist between public and private prisons the limited information suggests that less expensive labor, rather than the superior ingenuity of private management or of the market, is the main cause. Therefore, the more relevant question is whether a contractor is likely to be better able to provide the desired services within a range of acceptable costs and given specific circumstances and constraints found in a particular jurisdiction. Tables and methodological note