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Friday, May 20, 2011

Private Prisons Fail to Deliver Big Savings

Most states have turned to privately-owned prisons in order to cut savings, but a report says that the prisons offer little savings to state governments, and in some cases end up costing taxpayers more than traditional systems.

The New York Times reports Arizona's private prisons can be costlier than state-run systems, even though the state's private outfits manage to avoid housing some of the typically more expensive inmates. Regardless, the state is pressing forward with plans to double its privately-imprisoned population, despite a state law that says private prisons must save taxpayers money. Lawmakers in Ohio and Florida are also making moves to greatly increase private inmate numbers.

What do you think the private sector can do to run prisons more effectively than the government?

from The Consumerist

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is common sense. Everyone says privatize, but remember, business is in it to make a profit, while government is non-profit. Just because it is private, doesn't mean it is better.

dan said...

Think about this when people start bleating about privitizing schools, or the post office, or...

Anonymous said...

government employees:
very hard to lose your job even if you are lazy and stupid.
take advantage of "the system".
don't care about doing a great job and continually making the operation run more efficient.
only care about making sure you get paid for the hours you put in and making sure your pension is very lucrative....

private sector:

must be suited for the job; efficient; work hard; willing to make changes when necessary and is deserving of the pay they earn. they may have a pension and they may not through the employer. if they don't, they try to make a way to start saving on their own. they think for themselves and are usually more creative in their work enviorment.

i'm sure i will get "attacked" for this comment but i've been on "both sides" and have seen how this works. experience is a great teacher......