NCJ Number
113797
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 50 Issue: 6 Dated: (October 1988) Pages: 98,100,102-103
Date Published
1988
Length
4 pages
Annotation
The cost-effectiveness of private-sector operations is probably the strongest argument for privatization in corrections.
Abstract
Unfortunately, cost-effectiveness is often equated with cost-cutting and used in a perjorative sense. However, cost-effectiveness is nothing like cost-cutting. Cost effectiveness comes in part from the ability to manage personnel more efficiently -- to bring to bear on a task the right number of properly trained staff, doing the right job. Private-sector correctional operations are able to tailor personnel needs to actual duties. Unlike in the public sector, the private sector is not tied to abstract staffing models with little to do with actual operations. It is not burdened by vestigial positions or feather-bedding. Roster systems, job descriptions, hiring criteria, training standards, and other personal management subsystems are not laden with the history of the agency, the politics of the State, and the acrimonious labor-management atmospheres that sometimes permeate Government agencies. Flexibility in manpower management means there are fewer restrictions on hiring and firing. Further, because profit must be considered, private-sector managers are highly motivated to recruit, adequately train, and offer incentives for the retention of personnel. Freedom from traditional procurement procedures and supply channels also contribute to increased efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Management efficiency is the major area in which fiscal gains can be made by the contracting agency. Cost savings for the Government is the real impetus for privatization.