Posted on 10/20/2006 4:39:28 PM PDT by SmithL
The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation signed two contracts Friday to begin moving California inmates to out-of-state private prisons beginning as soon next month.
Deals with the GEO Group and the Correctional Corporation of America will result in the transfer of 2,260 prisoners to institutions in Indiana, Oklahoma, Arizona and Tennessee. The GEO contract will run at $28.7 million a year while the CCA deal is pegged at $22.9 million. The average daily per inmate cost under the agreements will amount to $63 a day, compared to the average cost of approximately $90 a day the state is paying to house inmates in California's 33 prisons.
Transportation arrangements are still pending, and the costs of moving the inmates has not been worked into the deals announced Friday.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
ACLU Law suits to follow.
Mexicans get much needed employment.
California taxpayers save a bundle.
Deportation is a moot issue.
Recidivism rates plunge.
Private prisons? I thought they were illegal. If not I know a few people...
I favor Russia. Lots of unused infrastructure, low cost per felon, and a long way back if the sentence is served or in the rare case of an escape. Yes, re-opening the Gulags would be a winner all around.
HEY!...We're supposed to get something like 1200 here in IN.
Our Rat Governor before McDaniels was send OUR prisoners out of state.
I am repelled by the notion of treating people, even convicts, as commodities. As someone pointed out, if everyone who was convicted got their max sentence, 39% of our population would be behind bars.
Let me explain. If you are going to put people in prison for a gazillion laws, that is fine. If it is so expensive that you have to build prison tent cities to house them in your State, that is also fine.
But when you so easily send people to prison, then refuse to accept that you have to pay for that, and instead treat them as if they were cattle, not human beings, that can be shipped off to be out of sight, the entire concept has gotten out of control.
First of all, the vast majority of these prisoners are "non-violent drug offenders". The logic of putting people in violent, gang-ridden, PYITA prisons for years, because "smoking marijuana might hurt them", is insane.
If just they are released from prison, most of the prisons in the United States would be more than half empty. No more overcrowding, with all its problems, and no more prison guard unions the size of the Teamsters.
Second, it is a primary responsibility of government to keep and maintain prisons. I couldn't be less comfortable if some corporate rent-a-cops replaced all the policemen in my city.
I honestly don't think CA will save any money doing this over the long run. This is a cosmetic, feel-good approach to a problem that can easily be resolved in a matter of days.
I may be the lone voice on this thread.
Corporations should not be involved at any level of our justice system. They make their profit on a per prisoner basis.
This in turn will create yet another lobby, the corporate prison lobby in this case. These corporations will lobby for unnecessary mandatory sentences to increase their income. Which hurts, not helps the cause of justice.
This creates a system just begging to be abused.
Doesn't matter if it saves money if it means more criminals are doing their time behind bars and not getting off for lack of space.
Where does one need to sign up to start a 'private prison'?
they already have been in the mix for 10+ years. They only take the low level inmates.
And next on the list are the tobacco smokers. We'll have more prisons than WalMarts.
According to Bureau of Justice Statistics numbers here, as of 2002 21% of state prison inmates were in on drug related charges.
From the same source, also for 2002, 25% of jail inmates were in on drug related charges. 11% were simple possession, the balance were distribution.
From the second source, 55 of federal prisoners were drug related as of 2001 but that was not broken down by offense.
That is still too many, but wildly exaggerated claims of easily verifiable numbers do all sides a disservice.
I know. That doesn't make them right.
Open up the Kolyma gold mines again. We'll split the profits 50/50 with the Russkies.
Now you are over the top! No enterprise (except perhaps Starbucks and the federal government) can surpass the beloved WalMarts!
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