The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

There is no question that the state's criminal justice policies - which have caused a quadrupling of the inmate population, to 28,000, over the past quarter century - have left Alabama with a prison system that is now overwhelmed. Health and education programs are suffering, and rehabilitative services are sorely lacking.

But these problems won't be solved by turning over operation of the system to profit-seeking corporations. It is highly speculative - and doubtful - that private management can save the taxpayers money. The Alabama corrections system already operates as leanly as possible - spending far less than the national average for each inmate.

Private prisons, in fact, often cost more than government-run facilities. Kentucky, for example, pays private prisons up to $44.19 per day for each prisoner, compared to $26.51 for state-run facilities. And don't forget subsidies. A study released in 2002 showed that private prisons have received more than $600 million in government subsidies that don't get calculated into states' costs.

To generate shareholder profits and reduce the state's costs, companies would have to cut corners on health and safety - putting guards, inmates and the public at greater risk.

According to the Alabama Policy Institute report cited by Ciamarra, taxpayer savings from private prisons would come from prison guards working longer hours with fewer health and retirement benefits.

Prison managers could be expected to hire fewer employees - with less experience, training and benefits - while restricting the meager educational and rehabilitation programs currently offered in the prisons. Given that 90 percent of all Alabama prisoners will leave prison one day and return to our communities, cutting back on rehabilitation only makes our communities less safe.

As the Alabama Sentencing Commission's 2003 report and the national media highlighted, our state is incarcerating people for too long, sometimes decades, for relatively minor, nonviolent offenses. Between 1994 and 2003, the incarceration rate increased by 41 percent while the crime rate decreased by just 9 percent.

As a consequence, our prisons currently operate at twice their capacity while local jails are sometimes forced to house the overflow. This crisis has been exacerbated by severe underfunding of alternatives to incarceration, yet these methods offer cheaper remedies and lower recidivism rates.

Research consistently bears out that sentencing reform, transitional programs for those leaving prison, drug treatment and community corrections offer the best package of lower costs and community strengthening without compromising public safety.

Supervised treatment programs can cut recidivism rates by as much as 20 percent, while community programs for the mentally ill have an even bigger impact. These programs also save the taxpayers money. Some cost as little as $11 per day for each participant, compared to the $36 a day Alabama now spends to lock up a prisoner.

But more than the money saved, these alternatives build a safety net of connections so that those released are in a better position to rejoin and strengthen their communities.

A shift to smart rather than long sentencing for nonviolent crimes would cut state costs by millions, strengthen families by returning noncareer and low-level offenders to their homes, and more quickly transition offenders from tax burdens to tax payers.

There are other questions, besides cost, that Alabama citizens should ask: Is it morally right to profit from the imprisonment of human beings? Will the profit motive distort the justice system - providing incentives to lock more people up for longer stretches at the expense of rehabilitation and crime prevention? How will the public maintain accountability over what goes on inside prisons?

The bottom line is this: Prison privatization is no magic elixir for Alabama. It is, rather, snake oil designed to produce profits for private interests.

But sentencing reform and alternatives to incarceration will save money while making our communities stronger and safer.

Rhonda Brownstein is legal director of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Genesis Fisher is a staff attorney there. http://www.al.com/opinion/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1165746651
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