Housing a prisoner in California now costs more than a year at Harvard.

At $75,560, housing a prisoner in California now costs more than a year at Harvard.

Salaries and benefits for prison guards and medical providers drove much of the increase. The result is a per-inmate cost that is the nation’s highest — and $2,000 above tuition, fees, room and board, and other expenses to attend Harvard.

New York is a distant second in overall costs at about $69,000.

Critics say with fewer inmates, the costs should be falling. Gov. Jerry Brown’s spending plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1 includes a record $11.4 billion for the corrections department.
The corrections department has one employee for every two inmates, compared with one employee for roughly every four inmates in 1994.

Wow.

We all know that Kalifornia is the King of taxes, debt and regulations but this is a new low even for them.


Its no surprise that NY is in second place but the costs are mind blowing.

The "War" on Drugs may have been one of government's biggest blunders and thats saying a lot considering almost everything they do creates more problems.

We need to immediately decriminalize the use of all drugs, especially if there is no other crime involved. We're stripping people of their freedom when in actuality they need help.

There has to be a better way.

a reply to: gladtobehere


Someone is certainly laughing all the way to the bank! We all know damn well a hammer doesn't cost 2 thousand dollars? Seems our Prison Industrial Complex took lessons from the Pentagon...

a reply to: gladtobehere

Privatization instantly creates a monopoly where the consumer (the state) can be gouged at-will.

Clearly privatization of government simply does not work. The result is the greatest possible cost with the worst possible quality. Plus with the prison-industrial-complex we get lobbyists promoting public policies that encourage more people in prison.

We need the government to take over all private ownership of prisons. Or open new prisons that are NOT for-profit.

I agree decriminalize drugs. If people want to rot away in a heroin overdose or meth addiction then let them. Or if people commit 1rst degree murder then consider executing them. Invest in proper painless execution which will cost much less than housing an inmate for the remainder of his life. Also, who wants to be in jail with inmates that have nothing to live for and will never get out.

1/3 of state prisoners are illegal aliens. We're going broke paying for other countries antisocial people as well as our own but it would be mean to monitor the border only allowing legal immigrants to enter.

I did a thread on this awhile back. It's modern slavery and a ton of fortune 500 countries, INCLUDING a lot of liberal CEO's, use the prison service for cheap labor. It violates the 14th amendment IMO.


I prefer fines and public service for all minor crimes and/or white collar crimes. Prison is for murderers, rapists, lawyers, politicians, Wolverine fans, Steeler fans, and other irreconcilable degenerates.

a reply to: dfnj2015

Thats not true at all.

Almost everything that government does, without exception, either fails or is incredibly bloated and wasteful.

They have no incentive to cut costs or streamline because they are generally never held accountable. There arent any consequences unlike a private firm which would simply go out of business.

I think what youre referring to in this case is the inherent conflict of interest, the fact that these same private corporations which are in the prison business lobby for endless rules, laws and regulations.

Its in government's interest to pass these laws because it helps to keep the slaves in line, suppress our rights and keeps the cycle of money flowing, both for the private sector and the "justice" system.

a reply to: gladtobehere

For fun find out how much it costs to feed a prisoner per day , In the UK it is something like $ 3 and the warders are not well paid

I don't have a problem with private prisons.

How many of you really want prisons ending up looking like your roads with pot holes never getting filled.

Private does everything better than public.

And if you have a problem with prisons. Tell the feds and the states stop creating so many laws.

originally posted by: blueman12
I agree decriminalize drugs. If people want to rot away in a heroin overdose or meth addiction then let them. Or if people commit 1rst degree murder then consider executing them. Invest in proper painless execution which will cost much less than housing an inmate for the remainder of his life. Also, who wants to be in jail with inmates that have nothing to live for and will never get out.

The reported noted that there are fewer prisoners and yet cost per prisoner increased.
That means the cost is from admin pay, pensions and profits, not prisoner costs.

You can decrease the amount of prisoners but the costs overall are going to be the same since many are on the take with an open wallet from uncle sam.

originally posted by: neo96
I don't have a problem with private prisons.

How many of you really want prisons ending up looking like your roads with pot holes never getting filled.

Private does everything better than public.

And if you have a problem with prisons. Tell the feds and the states stop creating so many laws.

I do!

Why? Check out the deals your so called government officials make with these pricks. They make a deal to fill so many beds with bodies. If the corporate prison doesn't get the amount of bodies to fill the beds, then in the contract the government ie tax payers are on the hook to pay these pricks EXTRA because of the beds not being filled.

Thus you wonder why our elected officials create so many BS laws to create criminals where criminals shouldn't exist?

a reply to: seeker1963

Exactly the same in the UK they round up people to fill the spaces , they jail people to make the numbers up

a reply to: gladtobehere

Everything you said goes double for a monopoly from a privatization contract plus executive overhead.

a reply to: stonerwilliam

In the United States, since we do not believe in having government, privatization companies are encourage to charge as much as they want because it is political proof government doesn't work.

originally posted by: neo96
I don't have a problem with private prisons.

How many of you really want prisons ending up looking like your roads with pot holes never getting filled.

Private does everything better than public.

And if you have a problem with prisons. Tell the feds and the states stop creating so many laws.

The trouble with private prisons is they get all the money from the gov and indirectly the tax payer. Who else do you think pays to house prisoners?

Now the difference between the gov running things and private corporations is that the gov is not out to make as much profit as possible as corporations are. So in theory at least the gov should be able to do it more cost effectively.

Of course the gov is owned by the corporations but that’s another issue.

Its California
Prisoners fed the finest Filet Mignon and a fine Chablis to go with it
A good Cuban cigar after the meal

Its Cali
Nuff said

I think prisons for profit are a bad idea. You incentivize incarceration with prisons for profit. They also serve as a counter-incentive to reforms that help to reduce recidivism.

If they were heavily regulated enough perhaps they could operate without these impediments to real social benefit, but I don't honestly think that would ever happen with a private prison system.

It should be publicly funded with lots of oversight. Prisons should provide actual rehabilitation to inmates, to reduce recidivism. If we were doing it right as a society, we wouldn't have to keep putting more and more people in there. Prison populations would be shrinking, and most people who went to prison once would never go back. The methods to achieve this are no mystery(education), but have never been widely implemented as far as I know, at least not here in the US.

I'm not a fan of big government at all, quite the opposite in fact, but this is one task of government that should not be privatized in my opinion. Cruel and unusual punishment is clearly unconstitutional. The present US prison system is cruel and unusual.