NCJ Number
121713
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 33 Issue: 3 Dated: (December 1989) Pages: 241-256
Date Published
1989
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This article compares three privately operated prisons with three publicly operated prisons in an effort to learn which is run more efficiently.
Abstract
Through a comparative cost analysis of private and public prisons the author found that the private prisons provided more services at lower cost than their public counterparts. Factors that may have contributed to this include: less bureaucratic red tape; better control over resources; more flexible manpower usage; and the ability to build prisons quickly. The author concluded from the findings of this study that comparative cost analyses and possible future research on the privatization of prisons will support the argument by the proponents of prison privatization that private operation of prisons is a worthwhile endeavor. 11 tables, 22 references. (Author abstract)