Economics of Privatizing Criminal Justice Facilities (From Privatizing the United States Justice System: Police, Adjudication, and Corrections Services From the Private Sector, P 290-293, 1992, Gary W Bowman, Simon Hakim, et al., eds. - See NCJ-137785)

• NCJ Number: 137802
• Author(s): R S Guzek
• Date Published: 1992
• Length: 4 pages
• Sale Source: McFarland & Company, Inc.
• Publication Type: Best Practice/State-of-the-Art Review
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The three general types of transactions for privatizing criminal justice facilities are an operations and maintenance contract for a facility owned by the public sector but operated by the private sector, a lease contract for a facility owned by the private sector but operated by the public sector, and a service contract for a facility that is both owned and operated by the private sector.

Abstract

Each type of transaction involves economic or tax considerations for the community or the company. The benefits of privatization are the increased speed of bringing facilities into operation and the reduced capital and labor costs to house prisoners. These benefits result from the use of a more modular design approach, the use of fast-track construction, creative financing, efforts to minimize operating costs, and tax advantages to the private- sector firms. A hypothetical case shows an annual cost savings of 8.5 percent as a result of privatization. Table