Correctional Facilities Cost

There have been twenty-three prisoners build that was in the state of California in 1984 and it cost the state between “$280-$350 million apiece”. In 1984 and 2000 more prisons was built for the state penal system to have housing for the prisoners.

The Hardeman County Correctional Facility website states, that the facility is owned by the Hardeman County Correctional Facilities Corporation. The correctional facility is a medium risk prison. The facility houses roughly around 2,000 inmates. Tennessee is one of the few states that still issues the death penalty. The county also has their own sheriff’s department. Although the county only has 28 thousand people live there. The county may be safe, but safety measures are still taken to guarantee that the citizens are

The costs of incarceration continue to rise. In 2013, a three-year prison sentence cost over $37,000 according to the New York Times, while a probation sentence would have cost only $6,770 (Sowell). In other words, incarceration costs taxpayers thirty-three dollars and seventy-nine cents a day for each offender. However, for fiscal year 2014-2015, incarceration costs were seventy-three dollars and thirty-four cents a day for each of the more than 21,000 inmates in Tennessee prisons (Frequently Asked Questions). Incarceration costs include more than just the obvious expenses for food, clothing, shelter, and guard salaries. The Tennessee Department of Correction is also responsible for the medical, dental, vision, and mental health needs of each inmate. If one half of the 21,000 Tennessee inmates were

The average cost of housing an inmate is approximately $20,000 to $30,000 per year. This price tag comes at the direct expense of public money that could be spent on public education, medical care and public assistance. And it is one reason why so many states face fiscal crises today. The state of California spends 2.5 times more money housing and feeding its inmates than it does educating students.The current unemployment rate in the US is high. And if we factored in all the people who are not looking for work because they are behind bars, it would be higher especially among young black Americans and people without a high school

(Jacoby, 1997, P. 2) However; in the year 2012, CBS NEWS reported ” In states like Connecticut, Washington state, New York, it's anywhere from $50,000 to $60,000." (CBS NEWS, 2012) Over the past 25 years the cost to keep just one inmate has more than doubled.

The average cost of keeping a single prisoner incarcerated in federal prison for a year is approximately $30,619.85 (Prisons Bureau, and Department of Justice). Multiply that number by the approximate 2,217,000 prisoners currently incarcerated and the cost of long sentences required by mandatory minimums starts to add up (Federal Bureau of Prisons).

As the amount of nonviolent drug offenders increases, so does the amount of prisoners in jail. With only 5 percent of the world’s population, the United States has 25 percent of the world’s total prison population. Between 1980 and 2013, the amount of people in federal prison for drug offenses has increased from 4,749 to 100,026, and the total federal prison population as increased almost 790 percent. To manage the sharp increase in the inmate population in recent years, the bureau that manages the federal prisons has resorted to putting two or three bunks in a cell, and converting recreational spaces into sleeping quarters. As the prisons become increasingly overcrowded, it hinders correction officers’ ability to do there job and ensure that inmates are kept nonviolent and facilities are in safe conditions. Without the proper supervision of law enforcement, prisons become extremely dangerous for both inmates and officers. And as the number of inmates rises, so does the cost to house all of them. According to the National Institute of Justice, the cost of building a prison ranges from $60,000 to $75,000 per inmate, with the average prison’s operating cost being about $60 per day per inmate. Where does this money to house prisoners come from you may ask? The answer is simple: the federal budget, which is largely funded by you, the average taxpayer. Along with the issue of increasing prison-housing costs, the rehabilitation programs available to inmates are usually the first

The average cost of keeping a single prisoner incarcerated in federal prison for a year is approximately $30,619.85 (Prisons Bureau, and Department of Justice), multiply that number by the typical five years in prison mandatory minimum policy demands for minor drug crimes as well as multiplying it by the approximate 93,262 inmates currently in prison for drug crimes (Federal Bureau of Prisons) and the cost of long sentences required by mandatory minimums starts to add up.

According to the Florida Department of Corrections, the cost of living for a general inmate is $49.49 a day, totaling $18,064 a year. In contrast, deathpenalty.org shows that Death Row prisoners cost tax payers $90,000 more per year than general inmates.

There is no evidence to support the perception that private prisons are more efficient. In the article Oppel quotes from an Arizona study that says minimum-security state inmates cost 2.6 percent or $1.39 more than those in private prisons before extra costs are accumulated by the state, and after the extra costs are figured in state inmates only cost 3 cent more a day. He says state medium-security inmates cost 4.4 percent less before the extra costs and 8.7 percent less after the extra costs are figured in. The result according to Oppel’s study is that state inmates cost $1,679 less per year, per inmate at a taxpayer expense of about two million dollars a year per prison.

UC Berkeley Institute of Government Studies reports that the California Prison system "is the third largest penal system in the country, costing $5.7 billion dollars a year and housing over 161,000 inmates." (2012, p.1) The number of prisons in the State of California is reported to have "tripled…since 1980." (UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, 2012, p.1) Reported are controversies relating to expansion of the prison system, climbing costs, and poor management in addition to abuse of inmates. (UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, 2012, paraphrased)

According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations the cost of housing an inmate in solitary confinement is nearly double the cost of housing a level one inmate. “In 2010-2011 it cost $43,640 to house a level one inmate and a staggering $70,641 to house an inmate in solitary confinement at Pelican Bay.” (CDCR 2) These cost do not include the cost of training guards to handle maximum security inmates nor does it include the cost of hourly wages for the guards. These figures also do not include the cost of construction of the maximum security cells.

In the United States there are “2,300,000 people are in jails or prisons today. Incarceration is one of the most common forms of punishment in the country for those who choose to commit crimes. This number includes those who are jailed for a short period and are released on probation, as well as those who are doing time for the rest of their lives. (soapboxie, 2016).

In addition, politicians sometimes forget to mention to their people that incarcerating criminals is very expensive. In Florida alone it cost taxpayers over $20,000 to incarcerate someone for a year; it cost the United States over $32,000 dollars to incarcerate every inmate per year (CBS News, 2012). I believe that some people deserve to be incarcerated but I don’t believe even half of the people in prison needed to be there. The United States has about 5 percent of the world's population, but we have 25 percent of the world's prisoners - we incarcerate a greater percentage of our population than any country on Earth," said Michael Jacobson (CBS News, 2012). I think that prison is a temporary solve for our problem were as crime prevention and rehabilitation approaches are the real solution to the problems that society is facing.

The prison system's overcrowding is making them more and more expensive to afford. Also, mandatory sentences have hindered the Judiciary's ability to sentence offenders with discretion; so many offenders are sent to prison automatically, without regard for mitigating circumstances. For some of these offenders, prison may not be the most appropriate remedy. The cost to house and feed the inmates is skyrocketing. As with the general public, the cost to provide medical treatment, especially to those elderly and special needs inmates, has increased substantially.