The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Despite these positives, there are some pitfalls that other counties have experienced that should serve as cautionary notes.

For instance, one of the suggestions made in the preliminary discussion was to build a large facility ‹ 1,000 beds was mentioned ‹ and rent out the excess to the federal government to house federal prisoners.

Bad idea, as many jails have found out.

First of all, a large facility has large expenses ‹ more staff, more overhead, more maintenance ‹ and unused capacity costs money. With the competition to house federal prisoners, there's no guarantee of 100 percent occupancy and, in fact, few jails that cater to the feds make any money to offset their own costs.

Second, in general, the federal government isn't looking for jail space for tax evaders and white-collar crooks. It needs housing for hardcore federal felons ‹ major drug lords, murders, kidnappers and others who require high security, which has higher expenses.

Instead of large facilities to address future needs, detention experts recommend that new jails be built with capacity for just slightly more than is required for the immediate future. Because modern jails use modular, pod designs, it is relatively inexpensive to add pods as the need arises.

As the regional jail process develops, the counties also need to watch out for the "vultures," those who want to latch onto the project to make a few bucks.

Back in the early 1990s, Valencia County was considering building a new county jail. The initial cost estimate for a modest, adequate, modern facility was $6 million to $7 million. Within weeks, out-of-state "jail consultants," designers, builders and everyone else with a desire to get a piece of the pie had descended on the county. Within months, thanks in part to the make-money-with-fed-prisoners lure, the size of the proposed jail had quadrupled, and the estimated cost was over $40 million, with some independent estimates ranging as high as $80 million.

It was only through the courage and diligence of an official in the state Department of Finance and Administration that the whole scheme finally fell apart.

Later, Valencia County built a sensible jail that serves its needs without busting the budget.

That, we would hope, would be the approach the county officials involved in developing this proposal would take.

Most importantly, the counties need to keep control of the process at all levels and avoid "pie in the sky" deals and private, for-profit prison operators.

A regional jail might be the best idea, but the four counties involved need to study it from the standpoint of meeting their needs, not entering the prison business.
http://www.dchieftain.com/opinion/55104-10-08-05.html