Private and Public Prisons: A Comparison of Costs, Programs and Facilities

Abstract

This article compares three privately operated prisons with three publicly operated prisons in an effort to learn which is run more efficiently. Through a comparative cost analysis of private and public prisons the author found that the private prisons provided more services at lower cost than their public counterparts. Factors that may have contributed to this include: increased economies when purchasing goods; less bureaucratic red tape; better control over resources; more flexible manpower usage; and the ability to build prisons quickly. The author concluded from the findings of this study that comparative cost analyses and possible future research on the privatization of prisons will support the argument by proponents of prison privatization that private operation ofprisons is a worthwhile endeavor.