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Public-Private Correctional Partnerships Cost Less
Taxpayers can enjoy significant savings by utilizing public-private correctional partnerships to design, finance, build, and operate prisons, jails, community corrections facilities, and juvenile justice programs. These savings are derived from a variety of benefits offered by privatization and are documented by numerous independent research studies.
- Operation of a federal correctional facility at Taft, California, cost between 6% and 10%, or $9.6 million and $16.5 million, less during the five-year period of the study.
- When compared to public construction, on average, private prisons cost between 15% and 25% less in the design and construction of a new prison. Use of the design-build method with a fixed-fee contract contributes to these savings.
- The design-build method allows for construction of new private prisons in approximately half the time of a government built prison. This saves construction debt costs, costs associated with materials price inflation, and potential litigation costs related to continuing to operate in an overcrowded existing facility.
- Construction of a 1,318-bed facility cost taxpayers 24% less than a comparable facility built by the state.
- Operational costs at the same 1,318-bed facility were 10.6% less than the comparable state-run facility. The rehabilitative programs provided by the private operator were significantly more sophisticated than those of the publicly managed facility.
- Performance-based contracts often shift the burden of inmate litigation to the private provider. Doing so places a limit on government's exposure to these costs and also provides a significant economic incentive for the provider to operate the facility in a high-quality manner.
- Medical-risk also represents a significant cost to the taxpayer. Private contracts can shift this risk to the private provider or through the application of a cap for catastrophic expenses, can at least reduce the risk for the government.
- Utilizing the latest design technology can reduce the size of the staff necessary to operate the facility in a safe, humane, and secure manner.
- Because private facilities operate with a profit motive, the operator has an incentive to employ the newest/most efficient electronic technology to reduce costs.
- Abt Associates of Cambridge, MA study, funded by the Department of Justice, 2005. Full study at www.apcto.org
- Study published by the Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability; 2002. Full report can be seen at www.apcto.org
- Ibid.
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