GA: New audit says private prisons are not more cost-effective than state-run prisons
A new audit report released at the end of December indicates that privately run prisons are more costly for the state of Georgia than those run by the state.
Currently, the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDOC) has four prisons run by two private companies, CoreCivic (formerly Corrections Corporation of America) and The GEO Group. The four prisons house almost 7,800 inmates – or 15% of the total population – and the state pays the companies a collective $140 million annually.
The audit reported that, when controlling for an offender’s sex, facility size and risk classification, state prisons run about $44.56 per offender per day and private prisons run around $49.07 per day per offender.
Additionally, private correctional facilities are not subject to public record laws and don’t have to report how money is being spent, despite the funneling of tax dollars to the businesses to conduct state business. These facilities also have the ability to accept or decline an offender based on medical conditions and mental health concerns, which drives down costs.
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prisons are just money rackets both ways.
Everyone I’ve ever known who’s done time in one of those private camps have said they are far better than any of the state-run ones. According to them, the food is better, fewer God-complected staff, better medical and other services, and so on. Guessing they pay their employees better as well.
Speaking as a former Georgia inmate, this story really doesn’t affect registrants all that much. Georgia DOC pretty much has free reign over where their inmates spend their time, and I’m 99.9% sure their policy is not to send inmates convicted of sex offenses to any of the privately run prisons.