Surprise, Republicans Lied to Us: Private Prisons Don't Save Money

In recent months, a number of Republican state leaders have pushed efforts to privatize prisons in the name of saving money for their states. There are already plenty of reasons to be wary of privatized prisons -- for instance, they create financial incentives to keep people behind bars. And now we have solid evidence, via the New York Times, that the fiscal argument for privatizing prisons is bunk:

Despite a state law stipulating that private prisons must create “cost savings,” [Arizona's] own data indicate that inmates in private prisons can cost as much as $1,600 more per year, while many cost about the same as they do in state-run prisons.

The research, by the Arizona Department of Corrections, also reveals a murky aspect of private prisons that helps them appear less expensive: They often house only relatively healthy inmates.

“It’s cherry-picking,” said State Representative Chad Campbell, leader of the House Democrats. “They leave the most expensive prisoners with taxpayers and take the easy prisoners.”

Indeed, "[f]ive of eight private prisons serving Arizona did not accept inmates with 'limited physical capacity and stamina' or severe physical illness or chronic conditions," the report found.

Although there is already a large amount of competing data on the purported savings of privatized prisons, the Times notes that the Arizona study is significant because the state " is one of the few — if not only — places to measure...so rigorously" the cost outcomes of private prisons.

Although privately-owned prisons have little-to-no benefit for states, citizens, or inmates, Republicans continue to try to shift prisons toward the private sector. As Suzy Khimm of Mother Jones reported last month:

In Ohio, Gov. John Kasich has proposed selling five prisons to private companies—a move that would bring in an estimated $200 million up front—while Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal plans to sell three state prisons to private operators. In Florida, the GOP-controlled Legislature is making an even broader push, hammering out a budget bill that would require the state to privatize the prisons in South Florida, where one-fifth of the state's 100,000-plus inmates reside.

Likewise, Maine's new GOP governor, Paul Le Page, has vowed to bring private prisons to his state for the first time, backing a bill that would also allow Maine to house out-of-state prisoners. In Texas, where prison privatization began decades ago, Harris County is now deliberating a plan to privatize the state's largest jail. And in Minnesota, Republican state lawmakers have introduced a bill that would require the state to solicit offers from private companies to manage the state's inmates.