March 12, 2006

Dear Editor:

In "Lawmakers consider options to relieve prison overcrowding," Dale Wetzel describes the current legislative debate over replacing an old prison cell house or building a new prison.

Your readers and the members of the legislature should consider the benefits of public-private correctional partnerships in meeting the need for modern prison bed capacity.

Several recent studies should be of interest.

• The Allegheny Institute found that Delaware County, Pennsylvania, saved more than $37 million over seven years by using a private operator to build and manage its county prison.
• A study, funded by the U.S Department of Justice, of the privately-managed Taft Correctional Institution found operating costs 6-10% less than the cost of government operation at comparable facilities.
• Two Vanderbilt University professors found that having at least 20% of a state's prison beds managed by private contractors slows the rate of increase in the state's cost to operate the other 80% by almost 10% over five years.

Public-private correctional partnerships also provide the state new sources of capital, the potential for innovation in correctional policy, and the opportunity for performance-based contracts, which drive high quality of service and an increased level of accountability to the contracting agency.

The Association of Private Correctional and Treatment Organizations urges the legislature to consider these advantages as they seek to meet the state's needs.

Sincerely,
 

 
Paul Doucette
Association of Private Correctional and Treatment Organizations
www.apcto.org

By DALE WETZEL
Associated Press
Mar. 05, 2006

BISMARCK, N.D. - A $31 million plan to replace an ancient cell house on North Dakota's state penitentiary grounds appears to be gaining support among lawmakers who are studying ways to relieve overcrowding.
The project was suggested 18 months ago, but it was not seriously considered by the 2005 Legislature. It includes the demolition and replacement of the penitentiary's east cell house and construction of a new medical clinic, laundry, prisoner orientation unit and segregation cells for inmates with disciplinary problems.
It would add 123 beds to the main state prison in Bismarck, which now can hold about 550 inmates.
The east cell house, which is almost a century old, presents security and staffing problems, prison officials say.
They have been lobbying for years for a replacement, and the message has been getting a warmer reception among members of the Legislature's interim Budget Committee on Government Services, which is considering whether to recommend a prison bill for the 2007 Legislature.
"Realistically, we must do something with the east cell block," said Rep. Darrell Nottestad, R-Grand Forks. Replacing the cell house "just makes sense," said Rep. Duane DeKrey, R-Pettibone.
Rep. Al Carlson, R-Fargo, the committee's chairman, said a consensus is emerging on the panel that the cell house "is in tough shape," and that the problem must be remedied. Carlson earlier was skeptical of proposals for prison construction.
North Dakota's prison system now has more than 1,400 inmates who are housed in state prisons in Bismarck and Jamestown, county jails, a county-run women's prison in New England in southwestern North Dakota, and a private prison in Appleton, Minn.
North Dakota inmates at the Appleton prison are being moved elsewhere so that the privately owned lockup can take more Minnesota prisoners.
Housing inmates outside North Dakota's system causes the state's incarceration expenses to rise rapidly, said Dave Krabbenhoft, the budget director for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
"That gets incredibly expensive right away," Krabbenhoft said.
Rep. Dave Weiler, R-Bismarck, advocates building a new prison complex in rural Burleigh County, which would house as many as 2,000 prisoners and cost more than $120 million. A new prison would be safer and more efficient to manage, he said.
"I think to use a Band-Aid approach where we currently are with the penitentiary is a mistake," Weiler said. "It's just going to get more and more and more and more expensive."
Other lawmakers believe a wholesale replacement of North Dakota's prison buildings would be unpopular with their colleagues and the public.
"The realities of trying to build something new has two chances, little and none," said Sen. David Nething, R-Jamestown. "It just is not going to happen."
Legislators also are examining whether to establish one or more new transition centers for some inmates who have less than six months left on their sentences, or use cells in newly expanded county jails to house state prisoners. One transition center already exists in Bismarck, and the 60-bed center is being expanded this spring.
Several counties are adding cells to their existing jails or building new lockups, sometimes as part of a multi-county project. A new 129-bed Pierce County jail, expected to be finished this summer, will house at least 25 state inmates for drug treatment, although North Dakota corrections officials say local jail expansion projects should not rely on housing state inmates.
"We need to use the resources we have, and we've got a partner coming to the table ... which are the counties that are providing the multi-county facilities with some excess capacity," said Sen. Aaron Krauter, D-Regent.