Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
Congressional research reportApr 13, 2010
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
Suzanne M. Kirchhoff
Analyst in Industrial Organization and Business
April 13, 2010
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
R41177
CRS Report for Congress
Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress
Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
Summary
The U.S. corrections system has gone through an unprecedented expansion during the last few
decades, with a more than 400% jump in the prison population and a corresponding boom in
prison construction. At the end of 2008, 2.3 million adults were in state, local, or federal custody,
with another 5.1 million on probation or parole. Of that total, 9% were in federal custody.
Globally, the United States has 5% of the world’s population but 25% of its prisoners. Prison
growth has been fueled by tough drug enforcement, stringent sentencing laws, and high rates of
recidivism—the re-arrest, re-conviction, or re-incarceration of an ex-offender.
The historic, sustained rise in incarceration has broad implications, not just for the criminal
justice system, but for the larger economy. About 770,000 people worked in the corrections sector
in 2008. The U.S. Labor Department expects the number of guards, supervisors, and other staff to
grow by 9% between 2008 and 2018, while the number of probation and parole officers is to
increase by 16%. In addition to those working directly in institutions, many more jobs are tied to
a multi-billion dollar private industry that constructs, finances, equips, and provides health care,
education, food, rehabilitation and other services to prisons and jails. By comparison, in 2008
there were 880,000 workers in the entire U.S. auto manufacturing sector. Private prison
companies have bounced back from financial troubles in the late 1990s, buoyed in part by
growing federal contracts. Nearly all new U.S. prisons opened from 2000-2005 were private.
Private prisons housed 8% of U.S. inmates in 2008, including more than 16% of federal
prisoners.
The growth of the corrections sector has other impacts. A number of rural areas have chosen to tie
their economies to prisons, viewing the institutions as recession-proof development engines.
Though many local officials cite benefits, broader research suggests that prisons may not generate
the nature and scale of benefits municipalities anticipate or may even slow growth in some
localities. Record incarceration rates can have longer-term economic impacts by contributing to
increased income inequality and more concentrated poverty. The problems are exacerbated by the
fact that African Americans and Hispanics are far more likely than whites to be incarcerated. The
large prison population also may be affecting distribution of federal dollars. The U.S. Census
counts individuals where they reside. Some regions may record a significant population increase
due to new prisons, meaning they garner more aid under federal population-based formulas.
The corrections sector is in stress as states seek to reduce prison populations and rein in costs.
The efforts have been underway for several years, but have intensified as the recession that began
at the end of 2007 has wrought havoc on state budgets. At least 26 states cut corrections spending
for FY2010. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has suggested amending that state’s
constitution to ensure that spending on prisons cannot exceed spending on higher education.
Arizona is preparing to sell prison facilities to private firms. It remains to be seen whether private
companies will prosper from state efforts, or incur losses if inmate populations level out or
decline. Congress is involved in the debate via federal contracts with private prisons, proposed
legislation to create a task force on the prison system, increased funding to reduce recidivism, a
proposed bill to allow collective bargaining for public sector correctional workers, proposals to
alter rules for the 2010 Census count, and rural development efforts. Legislation introduced in the
111th Congress includes S. 2772, S. 714, S. 1611, H.R. 4080, H.R. 413, and H.R. 2450. This
report will not be updated.
Congressional Research Service
Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
Contents
Corrections a Rising Concern......................................................................................................1
Corrections Sector.................................................................................................................2
U.S. Corrections System .............................................................................................................6
Prisoner Boom ............................................................................................................................7
Incarceration Trends............................................................................................................ 10
Prison Employment................................................................................................................... 12
Unions ................................................................................................................................ 14
Prison Construction................................................................................................................... 15
Rural Prisons ...................................................................................................................... 16
Cost and Overcrowding................................................................................................. 17
Financing............................................................................................................................ 18
Private Sector............................................................................................................................ 20
Private Prison Companies ................................................................................................... 22
The Private Prison Industry ................................................................................................. 25
Corrections Corporation of America.............................................................................. 25
Geo Group .................................................................................................................... 26
Cornell Companies........................................................................................................ 27
Other Private Firms....................................................................................................... 27
Phone Service ............................................................................................................... 29
Economic Impact ...................................................................................................................... 29
Prisons as Drivers of Economic Development ..................................................................... 32
Shelby, MT ................................................................................................................... 32
Hardin, MT................................................................................................................... 32
Challenges for Policymakers ..................................................................................................... 33
Figures
Figure 1. Imprisonment Rates, by State .......................................................................................4
Figure 2. U.S. Imprisonment Rate, 1925-2008.............................................................................8
Figure 3. Percentage of Prisoners in Private Prisons .................................................................. 22
Tables
Table 1. Prisoners Under State And Federal Jurisdiction By Sentence Length, Race, And
Gender, 2008 ......................................................................................................................... 10
Table 2. Median Wages and Employment of Correctional Workers, 2008-2018.......................... 12
Table 3. Number of State or Federal Prisoners in Private Facilities, 2000-2008.......................... 20
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
Contacts
Author Contact Information ...................................................................................................... 35
Congressional Research Service
Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
Corrections a Rising Concern
The U.S. prison system has exploded in size and economic importance during the past three
decades, due to a variety of factors including mandatory sentencing laws and tougher drug
enforcement efforts. At the end of 2008, more than 2.3 million adults were in local, state, or
federal custody, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.1 More than 5 million more were on
probation or parole. 2 Overall, one in every 31 U.S. adults was under the authority of the
correctional system in 2007. Globally, the United States has the highest per capita incarceration
rate of 218 countries and territories.3
The record U.S. prison population is creating pressures on the federal and state governments as
spending on corrections claims a larger share of tax dollars, potentially crowding out public
investment in other areas. There is growing concern among policymakers across the political
spectrum that corrections policy may have reached a point of diminishing returns. Correctional
spending has continued rising, even though the crime rate has declined or stabilized since the
early 1990s. 4 High rates of recidivism—ex-offenders coming back into the corrections sector for
new offenses or violations of probation or parole—indicate that the system may not be effective
as desired in deterring or rehabilitating offenders.5 Responding to these concerns, Congress is
considering a variety of actions to alter corrections policy. While state and local governments
fund and administer the bulk of corrections-related activity, the federal role is significant. For
example, federal contracts are the main source of funding for the private companies. Nearly 17%
of federal prisoners are housed in private prisons.6
During the 111th Congress, lawmakers have introduced legislation to reduce the size and fiscal
impact of the corrections system and to increase scrutiny of prison operators. One measure, S.
2772 (companion bill H.R. 4080), would create a grant program to help states and localities
reduce spending on corrections. Another, S. 714, would create a National Criminal Justice
Commission to carry out a comprehensive review of the criminal justice system. The FY2010
omnibus spending bill (P.L. 111-117) included $100 million, a $75 million increase from FY2009,
for programs authorized by the Second Chance Act that focus on reducing recidivism by
supporting a variety of state, local, and tribal offender re-entry programs.
1
Sabol, William J., Heather C. West, and Matthew Cooper, “Prisoners in 2008,” Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin,
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Statistics
(BJS), December 2009, p. 8. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/p08.pdf (viewed on April 2, 2010).
2
Glaze, Lauren E. and Thomas P. Bonzcar, “Probation and Parole in the United States, 2006,” Bureau of Justice
Statistics Bulletin, Washington, DC: DOJ/OJP/BJS, Revised July 2008. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/
ppus08.pdf (viewed on April 2, 2010).
3
Walmsey, Roy, World Prison Population List, 8th ed., King’s College London, International Centre for Prison Studies,
2008. http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/law/research/icps/downloads/wppl-8th_41.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
4
Austin, James and Tony Fabelo, The Diminishing Returns of Increased Incarceration: A Blueprint to Improve Public
Safety and Reduce Costs, The JFA Institute, Washington, DC, July 2004, p. 2.
http://www.jfa-associates.com/publications/srs/BlueprintFinal.pdf (viewed on April 2, 2010).
5
CRS Report RL34287, Offender Reentry: Correctional Statistics, Reintegration into the Community, and Recidivism,
by Nathan James.
6
Sabol, William J., Heather C. West, and Matthew Cooper, “Prisoners in 2008,” Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin,
Washington, DC: Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, December 2009, p. 8. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/
content/pub/pdf/p08.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
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Other congressional initiatives include H.R. 413 and S. 1611 to allow public safety officers to
engage in collective bargaining, and H.R. 2450, to make non-federal prisons and private facilities
housing federal prisoners comply with the same public disclosure rules as other federal
institutions. The Senate Judiciary Committee is reviewing mandatory sentencing laws for some
drug-related crimes. Congress is also involved in oversight and funding of the expanding federal
prison system.
A number of states are trying to reduce their prison populations. 7 The efforts have been underway
for several years, but have accelerated during the recession, which began in 2007 and has reduced
tax revenues and forced governors and legislators to cut spending to balance their budgets. States
are laying off corrections workers, releasing nonviolent prisoners, closing facilities, changing
sentencing laws and considering selling prisons to private firms. More than 26 states reduced
their corrections budgets for the 2010 fiscal year; additional cuts are expected for FY2011.8
In addition, the Congressional Black Caucus is part of a coalition that has pushed for change in
U.S. Census policy. The CBC contends that the practice of counting inmates as residents of the
area where they are incarcerated, rather than where they usually reside, drains federal funds that
are distributed under population formulas based on Census data from needy urban areas.9
This report provides an economic overview of the correctional sector as background for the
unfolding debate over spending and other policies. It begins with information on the growth in
prison populations in public and in private prisons. It also briefly explores the economic impacts
of prison location. It is not intended a study of the effectiveness of sentencing and other laws, nor
of evolving polices aimed at reducing recidivism and prison populations.10
Corrections Sector
The corrections system has expanded during the past three decades into a nationwide network of
businesses and workers whose livelihoods are tied to the prison system. 11 The nation spent $68.7
billion on corrections in 2006, a 660% increase from 1982.12 State governments, on average,
7
Lawrence, Alison, Cutting Corrections Costs: Earned Time for State Prisoners, Denver, CO: National Conference of
State Legislatures, July 2009, p. 1. http://www.ncsl.org/documents/cj/Earned_time_report.pdf (Viewed on April 2,
2010).
8
Scott-Hayward, Christine, The Fiscal Crisis in Correction: Rethinking Policies and Practices, Washington, DC: Vera
Institute of Justice, July 2009, p. 2. http://www.vera.org/files/The-fiscal-crisis-in-corrections_July-2009.pdf (Viewed
on April 2, 2010).
9
National Urban League, “The Fight for a Fair Count in the 2010 Census,” Press Release, December 18, 2009.
http://www.nul.org/content/fight-fair-count-2010-census (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
10
For background on those issues refer to CRS Report RL32766, Federal Sentencing Guidelines: Background, Legal
Analysis, and Policy Options, by Lisa M. Seghetti and Alison M. Smith, and CRS Report RL34287, Offender Reentry:
Correctional Statistics, Reintegration into the Community, and Recidivism, by Nathan James. Another, related issue
beyond the scope of this report is the expansion of prison-based industries. For more information on that topic, refer to
CRS Report RL32380, Federal Prison Industries, by Nathan James.
11
U.S. Census Bureau, Government Employment & Payroll, 2008. http://www.census.gov/govs/apes/ (Viewed on April
2, 2010). The data are derived from an annual survey of state, local and federal government entities.
12
DOJ/OJP, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Justice Expenditure and Employment Extracts, 2006, December 1, 2008.
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/glance/exptyp.cfm (Viewed on April 2, 2010). The DOJ report is based on data from
the Census Bureau’s Annual Government Finance Survey and Annual Survey of Public Employment. The corrections
population includes people in prisons, jails, and other facilities. The term prison usually refers to facilities for inmates
(continued...)
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
spend about 7% of their general fund revenues on incarceration.13 During the past three decades
correctional spending has risen nearly twice as fast as state spending on education, health care,
and social service programs. 14 In some states, for example California, the prison system now
consumes a larger share of general revenues (10%) than higher education (7%). 15
About 770,000 people work in U.S. prisons and jails and other institutions, and many additional
workers are employed by companies that provide supplies and services to the corrections sector.
States have vastly increased their prison capacity in the past 30 years. The South has the highest
per-capita imprisonment rate, followed by the West, Midwest, and the Northeast. States with the
largest corrections systems include Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, California and New York.16 (See
Figure 1.)
State and federal correctional functions are often contracted out to a network of private firms that
design, build, and manage prisons, arrange financing, and provide health care, transportation,
education, and other services. States and the federal officials are becoming more dependent on a
small group of companies that build and manage private prisons as they search for potential cost
efficiencies. Nationally, more than 8% of all prisoners are now in private institutions. In some
states, however, more than 30% of inmates are in for-profit prisons.17 The federal government has
nearly 17% of its inmates and detainees in private facilities. Underscoring the importance of these
corporations, nearly all new U.S. prisons opened between 2000 and 2005 were developed by
private companies.18
(...continued)
serving terms longer than a year, while jails house prisoners serving shorter sentences. State prisons are for violations
of state laws, while federal prisons are for violations of federal statues. Immigration review is a growing area of
confinement. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operates more than 350 U.S. prison or detention
facilities either on its own or through lease arrangements.
13
National Governors Association/National Association of State Budget Officers, The Fiscal Survey of the States,
December 2009. http://www.nasbo.org/Publications/FiscalSurvey/tabid/65/Default.aspx
14
Hughes, Kristen A., “Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 2003,” Bureau of Justice Statistics
Bulletin, Washington, DC: DOJ/OJP,BJS, April 2006, p. 4. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/jeeus03.pdf (These
numbers are not adjusted for inflation). (Viewed on April 8, 2010).
15
State of California, Office of the Governor, “Fact Sheet: State of the State 2010—Reshaping our Priorities to Shift
Funding From Prisons to Universities,” January 6, 2010. http://gov.ca.gov/index.php?/fact-sheet/14126/ (Viewed on
April 2, 2010).
16
Stephan, James J., Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 2005, Washington, DC: DOJ/OJP,BJS,
October 2008, Appendix Table 1. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/csfcf05.pdf Texas, with 132 prisons, topped
the list in terms of prison facilities in 2005. Texas has been working to reduce recidivism and overhaul corrections
policy. (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
17
Sabol, William J., Heather C. West, and Matthew Cooper, “Prisoners in 2008,” Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin,
Washington, DC: DOJ/OJP/BJS, December 2009, p. 10. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/p08.pdf (Viewed on
April 2, 2010).
18
Stephan, James J., Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 2005, Washington, DC: DOJ/OJP/BJS,
October 2008, p. 1. www. bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/csfcf05.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
Figure 1. Imprisonment Rates, by State
Prison population per 100,000 residents
Source: Map prepared by CRS based on DOJ, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2008, Appendix Table 10.
Notes: The imprisonment rate is the number of inmates sentenced to more than one year per 100,000 U.S.
residents.
Some major investors are anticipating that private industry will assume an even larger role as
state and federal officials explore potential cost savings from contracting out more correctional
functions.19 California and Arizona, for example, are debating selling prisons and hiring private
firms to provide services, such as inmate health care. 20 But if state legislatures make major
changes in drug laws or other policies that reduce the number of individuals going to prison or the
length of prison sentences, these private firms could face a potential reduction in profits. The
federal government or state officials could experience problems if a private prison company were
to face financial distress.
19
Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P., Prisons Dilemma, October 20, 2009,
http://www.scribd.com/doc/21624762/Bill-Ackman-s-Presentation-on-Corrections-Corp-of-America-CXW-the-ValueInvesting-Congress+Pershing+Square+Capital+Management,+L.P.,+Prisons+Dilemma&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
http://vjsm.com/investor resources/vjsm/ackman/21624762-Bill-Ackman-s-Presentation-on-Corrections-Corp-ofAmerica-CXW-the-Value-Investing-Congress.pdf (Viewed on April 7, 2010).
20
Goldmacher, Shane and Larry Gordon, “Governor’s Call for Giving Colleges Priority over Prisons Faces Hard
Political Tests,” Los Angeles Times, January 7, 2010. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/07/local/la-me-educationprison7-2010jan07 (Viewed on April 8, 2010).
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Prison populations in a number of states are beginning to stabilize, according to recent data,
though the federal system continues to expand. The number of immigrants held by the federal
government, for example, rose from 19,515 in 2000 to 34,161 at the end of 2008.21 President
Obama’s FY2011 budget calls for a 9% increase from FY2010 in federal funding for detention,
predicated on an increased prison population.22 Federal contracts are now the largest source of
revenue for several of the nation’s major private prison firms, including the Corrections
Corporation of America and the GEO Group.
The prison expansion has other economic impacts. Many rural towns and counties have vied for
prisons and the jobs they create, offering financial incentives or even floating bonds to build
“speculative” prisons.23 Recent research questions whether prisons deliver promised economic
benefits, and whether some towns have bet their local economies on what may be a corrections
bubble that is not sustainable, with failed prison developments ending up as “half-empty white
elephants marooned on the American landscape.”24
While reductions in crime have benefits, academics are questioning whether the system has
grown so big, and is imprisoning so many nonviolent offenders, that it has reached a point of
diminishing returns.25 The incarceration rate has continued to increase even though crime rates
have leveled off. Research indicates that individuals who serve prison time have lower lifetime
earnings and are far less likely to move out of poverty than their peers who do not go to prison.26
A record 1.7 million children under age 18 now have an imprisoned parent, according to the U.S.
Department of Justice. Many incarcerated parents previously were main breadwinners, and the
instability and increased poverty resulting from their imprisonment is leading some states to look
for ways to cushion the impacts on families.27
21
Sabol, William J., Heather C. West, and Matthew Cooper, “Prisoners in 2008,” Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin,
Washington, DC: DOJ/OJP/BJS, December 2009, p. 10. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/p08.pdf (viewed on
April 2, 2010). For further information, see CRS Report RL32369, Immigration-Related Detention: Current Legislative
Issues, by Chad C. Haddal and Alison Siskin.
22
DOJ, “2011 Budget Summary,” 2011 Budget and Performance Summary. http://www.justice.gov/jmd/
2011summary/pdf/doj-budget-summary.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
23
Speculative prisons are prisons that are built by private companies in anticipation of housing state and federal
prisoners in the future. Some private prison companies are currently increasing their supply of beds, with the idea that
the need by states and the federal government for more prison space will exceed the governmental entities’ ability to
finance and build it.
24
Clement, Douglas “Big House on the Prairie,” FedGazette, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, January 2002.
http://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications_papers/pub_display.cfm?id=2048 (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
25
Austin, James and Tony Fabelo, The Diminishing Returns of Increased Incarceration: A Blueprint to Improve Public
Safety and Reduce Costs, The JFA Institute, July 2004, p. 2. http://www.jfa-associates.com/publications/srs/
BlueprintFinal.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
26
Western, Bruce and Becky Pettit, Incarceration and Social Inequality, Workshop in Race and Inequality, December
8, 2009. http://www.econ.brown.edu/econ/events/daedalus01.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
27
Christian, Steve, Children of Incarcerated Parents, National Conference of State Legislatures, March 2009.
http://www.ncsl.org/documents/cyf/childrenofincarceratedparents.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
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U.S. Corrections System
The U.S. prison system has gone through a number of changes during its history, as different
theories about punishment and rehabilitation moved to the fore or faded. Business interests have
played a role in the U.S. justice system since its earliest days, when entrepreneurs arranged to
transport convicted felons from Europe to the colonies to work as indentured servants.28 Initially
prison was not the preferred form of punishment in Colonial America. Flogging, public
humiliation, and banishment were common penalties, and execution was imposed for a wide
range of offenses.29 After the Revolutionary War, the nation began experimenting with different
approaches, and by 1820 most states had limited capital punishment to the most serious offenses.
Incarceration became the strategy for rehabilitation and reform, not just retribution. 30
The first U.S. state prison was established in Philadelphia in 1790. Other prisons followed, with
an emphasis on rehabilitation through solitary confinement, daily work and discipline. 31 The
nation was considered a world leader in corrections policy, a point underscored by Alexis De
Tocqueville’s famous 1831 visit to the United States, originally conceived to study the prison
system. The idea that enlightened prison management could bring about individual, as well as
broader social change, began to break down around the time of the Civil War as institutions
became overcrowded, more prisoners were sentenced for violent crimes, and immigrants, a focus
of discrimination, became a growing share of the prison population. 32 During Reconstruction, the
Convict Lease System was developed. Inmates were leased to private companies to build
railroads and roads, and for mining, logging, and other labor. States were paid a fee by lessees
who agreed to feed, clothe, and house the prisoners. Conditions were often brutal, with high
mortality rates.33
The New York Prison Society in 1867 commissioned what became an influential Report on the
Prisons and Reformatories of the United States and Canada. The report advocated ending
widespread forms of physical punishment and moving away from fixed or mandatory sentences.
New York’s Elmira Reformatory became a laboratory for such theories, with indeterminate
sentencing, parole, and educational programs. The late 1800s saw the rise of the federal prison
system. Construction of the first federal prison, at Leavenworth, KS, began in 1897.34 After a
series of scandals including torture, death and gross mistreatment of predominately African
28
Austin, James and Garry Coventry, Emerging Issues on Privatized Prisons, Bureau of Justice Assistance,
Washington, DC: DOJ/OJP, February 2001, p. 9. http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/bja/181249.pdf (Viewed on April 2,
2010).
29
Morris, Norval and David J. Rothman, eds., The Oxford History of the Prison: The Practice of Punishment in
Western Society, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 112.
30
Pillsbury, Samuel, H., “Understanding Penal Reform: The Dynamic of Change,” The Journal of Criminal Law and
Criminology, vol. 80, No. 3, Autumn 1989, P. 730.
31
Morris, Norval and David J. Rothman, eds., The Oxford History of the Prison: The Practice of Punishment in
Western Society, Oxford University Press, 1995, p.117.
32
Ibid, p. 127; Pillsbury, Samuel, H., “Understanding Penal Reform: The Dynamic of Change,” The Journal of
Criminal Law and Criminology, vol. 80, No. 3, Autumn 1989, P. 730.
33
Morris, Norval and David J. Rothman, eds., The Oxford History of the Prison: The Practice of Punishment in
Western Society, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 176.
34
Ibid, p. 87.
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American prisoners, states in the 1920s moved to abolish the convict lease system, which had
become particularly entrenched in the South.35
In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson, fresh off a presidential campaign in which he was attacked as
soft on crime, commissioned a study on the U.S. corrections system. The 1967 report of the
President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice recommended
more federal aid to state and local governments. 36 In 1968, Congress passed the Omnibus Crime
Control and Safe Streets Act (P.L. 90-351) that included grants to state and local governments for
training law enforcement personnel, prison construction, and education. The 1960s saw the rise of
the prisoners’ rights movement as prisoners won more protections via the courts.
Prisoner Boom
The U.S. prison population remained relatively stable through many of these policy changes.
Imprisonment rates even declined in some periods, including during wars when large numbers of
men were drafted.37 (See Figure 2.) In 1925, there were fewer than 100,000 inmates in state and
federal prisons. By 1975, the figure had grown to about 241,000.38 Because the nation’s
population rose during that period, the imprisonment rate—a measure of the number of prisoners
relative to the general population—remained stable at about 100 prisoners per 100,000 people. 39
The prison population began to climb in the late 1970s as states and the federal government
cracked down on crime. One turning point was New York State’s 1973 imposition of mandatory
sentencing laws for drug offenses, under the administration of Gov. Nelson Rockefeller.40 Other
states followed. Initiatives included mandatory sentences for repeat armed career criminals.
Congress, in the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 (18 U.S.C. 3651), repealed federal courts’
35
Florida Department of Corrections, Florida Corrections: Centuries of Progress, Timeline 1821-2003,
http://www.dc.state.fl.us/oth/timeline/1921.html (viewed on April 2, 2010). Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners
1925-1985. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1986; Curtin, Mary Ellen, “Convict-Lease System,”
Encyclopedia of Alabama, Auburn University and Alabama Humanities Foundation, January 22, 2010.
http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1346 (viewed on April 2, 2010).
36
Feucht, Thomas E. and Edwin Zedlewski, “The 40th Anniversary of the Crime Report,” NIJ Journal, DOJ/OJP,
National Institutes of Justice, No. 257, June 2007. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/journals/257/40th-crimereport.html#commission (viewed on April 2, 2010).
37
Austin, James, Reducing America’s Correctional Populations: a Strategic Plan, National Institute of Corrections,
2009, p. 2. http://www.nicic.gov/PopulationReduction (viewed on April 2, 2010); Bureau of Justice Statistics, “State
and Federal Prisoners 1925-1985,” Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin, October 1986. Note: The DOJ Bureau of
Justice Statistics prior to 2006 used the term incarceration rate to refer to the total number of inmates in custody in state
or federal prison or local jails per 100,000 population as well as the number of sentenced prisoners per 100,000
population, where sentenced prisoners was defined as those sentenced to a term of a year or more. The BJS recently
altered its terminology. Incarceration rate now refers to the total number of inmates, while the imprisonment rate refers
to inmates sentenced to a year or more.
38
DOJ/OJP, Bureau of Justice Statistics, “State and Federal Prisoners, 1925-1985,” Bureau of Justice Statistics
Bulletin, October 1986.
39
Blumstein, Alfred and Allen J. Beck, “Population Growth in U.S. Prisons, 1980-1996,” Crime and Justice, vol. 26,
1999, p. 19. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1147683 ; Michael J. Brown, Kentucky Justice & Public Safety Cabinet
Secretary, “Population Trends and Cost Drivers,” Presentation to National Governors’ Association.
http://www.nga.org/Files/pdf/0805SENTENCEPRES4.PDF (Viewed on April 7, 2010).
40
Tinto, Eda Katharine, “The Role of Gender and Relationship in Reforming the Rockefeller Drug Laws,” New York
University Law Review, 76 NYUL, 2001, p. 911. http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/nylr76&div=
31&g_sent=1&collection=journals#931 (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
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authority to suspend criminal sentences and made other changes. 41 In 1994, California voters and
legislators approved Proposition 184, the so-called Three Strikes Law. Among other things, the
law set a minimum sentence of 25 years to life for three-time offenders with prior serious or
violent felony convictions.42
Figure 2. U.S. Imprisonment Rate, 1925-2008
Number of prisoners per 100,000 residents
Per 100,000 Population
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
1920
1940
1960
1980
2000
2020
Years
Source: Sabol, William J., Heather C. West, and Matthew Cooper, “Prisoners in 2008,” Bureau of Justice Statistics
Bulletin, December 2009, and Bureau of Justice Statistics, “State and Federal Prisoners 1925-1985,” Washington,
DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1986.
Notes: Chart details number or prisoners sentenced to state and federal correctional institutions per 100,000
of U.S. residents. Data from 1971 onward include adults and youthful offenders serving terms of more than one
year.
41
CRS Report RL32040, Federal Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Statutes, by Charles Doyle, December 27, 2007.
42
Brown, Brian and Greg Jolivette, A Primer: Three Strikes, The Impact After More Than a Decade, California
Legislative Analyst’s Office, October 2005, http://www.lao.ca.gov/2005/3_strikes/3_strikes_102005.htm# (Viewed on
April 2, 2010).
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
As this wave of laws took effect, the imprisonment rate—based on the number of adults
sentenced to terms of more than one year—jumped from 133 per 100,000 in 1979 to 504 per
100,000 at the end of 2008.43(See Figure 2.) More than 2.3 million people were in the custody of
state or federal prisons and local jails at the end of 2008, with another 5 million on probation or
parole. 44 The United States, with 5% of the world’s population, had about a quarter of all
prisoners in 2006.45
Taxpayers spent about $68.7 billion in 2008 to feed, clothe, and provide medical care to prisoners
in county jails, state and federal prisons and facilities housing legal and illegal aliens facing
possible deportation. 46 From 1982 to 2002, state and federal spending on corrections, not adjusted
for inflation, rose by 423%, from $40 to $209 per U.S. resident. 47 Corrections spending, as a
share of state budgets, rose faster than health care, education, and natural resources spending
from 1986 to 2001.48 The average cost of housing a prisoner for a year was about $24,000 in
2005, though rates vary from state to state.49
The increase in the incarceration rate is not due just to the number of arrests, but also because
people are staying in prison for longer periods of time under mandatory sentencing laws and are
entering prison due to violations in probation or parole.50 To get a sense of how the length of a
sentence affects the prison population, a one-month reduction in the average length of stay of
prisoners would reduce the national prison population by about 50,000.51
43
Western, Bruce, From Prison to Work, Presentation at Brookings Institution Symposium, December 2008.
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/events/2008/1205_prison/1205_prison_to_work_slides.pdf (viewed on April
2, 2010); Sabol, William J., Heather C. West, and Matthew Cooper, “Prisoners in 2008,” Bureau of Justice Statistics
Bulletin, Washington, DC: DOJ/OJP/BJS, December 2009, p. 16. Under another measure, which includes people in
jails, as well as those in state or federal prisons, the 2008 incarceration rate was 754 per 100,000. This measure is
sometimes used in studies showing the United States with the world’s highest incarceration rate. Many other countries
include their jail populations in their incarceration rate.
44
Sabol, William J., Heather C. West, and Matthew Cooper, “Prisoners in 2008,” Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin,
December 2009, p. 8. The figure includes about 1.6 million people in state and federal prisons and 785,558 in jails. The
total incarcerated population is 2.42 million counting those held U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
facilities, juvenile facilities, and jails in Indian country.
45
Holmes, Nigel, “Lock Up, U.S.A.,” American History, October 2009, p. 44; Walmsey, Roy, World Prison
Population List, 8th ed., International Centre for Prison Studies, King’s College London, 2008. http://www.kcl.ac.uk/
depsta/law/research/icps/downloads/wppl-8th_41.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
46
Bureau of Justice Statistics, Justice Expenditure and Employment Extracts, 2006. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?
ty=pbdetail&iid=1022 (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
47
Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 2003,” Bureau of Justice
Statistics Bulletin, April 2006, p. 2. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=1017 (Viewed on April 2,
2010).
48
Stephan, James J., “State Prison Expenditures, 2001,” Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, Washington, DC:
DOJ/OJP, June 2004, p. 2. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/spe01.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
49
The Pew Center on the States, One in 100: Behind Bars in America in 2008, February 2008, p. 11.
http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/One%20in%20100.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
50
Austin, James, Reducing America’s Correctional Populations, a Strategic Plan 2009, National Institute of
Corrections, 2009. http://community.nicic.gov/forums/storage/95/16219/ReducingCorrectionalPopulationsAustin%20white%20paper.doc (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
51
Austin, James and Tony Fabelo, The Diminishing Returns of Increased Incarceration: A Blueprint to Improve Public
Safety and Reduce Costs, The JFA Institute, July 2004, p. 12. http://www.jfa-associates.com/BlueprintFinal.pdf
(Viewed on April 2, 2010).
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
Table 1. Prisoners Under State And Federal Jurisdiction By Sentence Length, Race,
And Gender, 2008
Total
Male
Female
Total under jurisdiction
1,610,446
1,495,594
114,852
Sentenced to over 1 year
1,540,036
1,434,784
105,252
White
591,900
562,800
29,100
Black
528,200
477,500
50,700
Hispanic
313,100
295,800
17,300
Prisoners by Sentence Length
Estimated prisoners by Race
Source: Sabol, William J., Heather C. West, and Matthew Cooper, “Prisoners in 2008,” Bureau of Justice Statistics
Bulletin, December 2009. Table 1.
Note: Race data is based on prisoners sentenced to more than one year. Excludes American Indians, Alaska
Natives, Asians, native Hawaiians, other Pacific Islanders and persons identifying two or more races.
Mandatory sentencing is also contributing to a bulge in the number of older inmates. More than
74,000 people age 55 or older were incarcerated at the end of 2008, with about 16,000 over the
age of 65.52 Research suggests that prisoners develop health problems at an earlier age than the
general population and older prisoners are more expensive than younger inmates. In Ohio, for
example, the cost for incarcerating older prisoners in 2006 was $81 per day, compared to $69 for
the general prison population.53 Average costs per prisoner were rising at a much faster rate for
older inmates. Ohio has a special facility just for older offenders needing acute or long-term care.
Incarceration Trends
There are indications that the state prison population is beginning to stabilize, though wide
differences remain from area to area. The federal prison system continues to expand, however.
The U.S. Department of Justice reported a 0.8% annual rise in the prison population in 2008—the
smallest in eight years. The average rate of increase from 2000 to 2008 (1.8%) was less than a
third of the rate of the previous decade (6.5%).54 Not only was there a decrease in the number of
prison admissions, there was an increase in the number of individuals released, particularly in
states that have initiatives to reduce recidivism rates and prison populations.
52
Sabol, William J., Heather C. West, and Matthew Cooper, “Prisoners in 2008,” Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin,
December 2009, Appendix Table 13.
53
Sterns, Anthony A., Greta Lax, Chad Sed, Patrick Keohane and Ronni S. Sterns, “The Growing Wave of Older
Prisoners: A National Survey of Older Prisoner Health, Mental Health and Programming,” Corrections Today, Vol. 70,
no. 4 (August 2008), pp. 70-76. http://www.aca.org/fileupload/177/ahaidar/Stern_Keohame.pdf (Viewed on April 2,
2010).
54
Sabol, William J., Heather C. West, and Matthew Cooper, “Prisoners in 2008,” Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin,
December 2009, p. 1; National Institute of Corrections, Reducing America’s Correctional Populations, a Strategic
Plan, 2009, p. 2. http://community.nicic.gov/forums/storage/95/16219/ReducingCorrectionalPopulationsAustin%20white%20paper.doc (Viewed on April 2, 2010).http://www.nicic.gov/PopulationReduction
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
In 28 states there was a decline in imprisonment rates in 2008, while 20 had increases and two
states were flat. The largest decreases were in Massachusetts, Texas, Nevada, Wisconsin and
Georgia.55 Prison populations increased fastest in Pennsylvania, Florida, Alabama, Indiana,
Arizona and Tennessee. The South has the highest per-capita imprisonment rate, followed by the
West, Midwest and Northeast.
Though state prison populations appear to be leveling, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is
now operating at well over capacity and estimates that its inmate population will increase during
the next several years. 56 The federal prison population, which is 215,000 in FY2010, is
forecast to grow by 7,000 by the end of FY2011. President Obama’s proposed FY2011
budget includes funds to fill 1,200 prison staffing positions, create additional positions and
activate new facilities.57 Further, the number of individuals held by U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) increased 12.3% from 2007 to 2008, compared to a 6.6% average
growth rate from 2000 to 2007. 58 There were 34,161 immigrants in detention at the end of 2008,
compared to 19,515 in 2000. Immigrants are housed in about 250 state, local, and federal prisons
and jails and in 41 special ICE facilities.
Kevin Campbell, a senior research analyst for Avondale Partners, LLC, in Nashville, tracks the
corrections sector. He notes that the growth of the prison population has slowed significantly. But
even a roughly 2% increase in the prison/detention population represents another 40,000 inmates.
Campbell estimates that a 1-2% increase in the prison population comes out to another $2.6
billion in spending annually.59 Campbell also notes the difficulty of achieving deep cuts in prison
populations. Early parole policies have backfired in states like Connecticut and Washington after
recently released prisoners committed violent crimes when back on the streets.
55
U.S. Congress, House, Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related
Agencies, Justice Reinvestment, Statement by Secretary Roger Werholtz, Kansas Department of Corrections, Hearing,
April 1, 2009. http://appropriations.house.gov/Witness_testimony/CJS/Roger_Werholtz_04_01_09.pdf (Viewed on
April 2, 2010).
56
U.S. Congress, House, Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related
Agencies. Major Challenges Facing Federal Prisons, Part I, Statement by Harley G. Lappin, Director, Federal Bureau
of Prisons, Hearing, March 10, 2009. http://appropriations.house.gov/Witness_testimony/CJS/
harley_lappin_03_10_09.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
57
DOJ, “Maintain Prisons, Detention, Parole and Judicial and Courthouse Security,” FY 2011 Budget Request,
Factsheet. http://www.justice.gov/jmd/2011factsheets/pdf/maintain-security.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
58
Sabol, William J., Heather C. West, and Matthew Cooper, “Prisoners in 2008,” Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin,
December 2009, p. 10.
59
Interview with Kevin Campbell, Avondale Partners, February 19, 2010.
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
Prison Employment
The corrections sector is a large and growing part of the labor force. According to the Census
Bureau, more than 770,000 people worked in the U.S. correctional industry in 2008.60 The U.S.
Department of Labor, in its 2010-11 Occupational Outlook Handbook, estimates there were about
620,000 guards, probation officers, prison supervisors and court bailiffs in 2008.61
The Labor Department forecasts a 9% rise in the number of corrections officers and supervisors
from 2008 to 2018, compared to an overall 10% rise in the population and workforce.62 The
Labor Department predicts, however, that the number of probation and parole specialists could
grow by 19% from 2008 to 2018, faster than the average for all occupations.
There may be more emphasis in many States on rehabilitation and alternate forms of
punishment, such as probation, that will spur demand for probation and parole officers and
correctional treatment specialists. Additionally, there will be a need for parole officers to
supervise the large number of currently incarcerated people when they are released from
prison.63
By way of comparison, there were 880,000 workers in the entire U.S. automobile manufacturing
industry in 2008.64
Table 2. Median Wages and Employment of Correctional Workers, 2008-2018
Category of
Correctional
Worker
Median Wages
Number of
Workers
Projected
Employment
2018
2008-2018
Employment
Change
Correctional
Officers/Jailers
$38,380
454,500
497,500
9%
Supervisors/managers
$57,380
43,500
47,200
9%
Bailiffs
$37,820
20,200
21,900
8%
Probation Officers
and Case Workers
$45,910
103,400
123,300
19%
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010-11 Occupational Outlook Handbook.
60
U.S. Census Bureau, Government Employment & Payroll, 2008, http://www.census.gov/govs/apes/ (viewed on April
2, 2010). The data are derived from an annual survey of state, local and federal government entities. Of that total, there
are 36,770 federal correction workers, 475,587 state workers and 258,317 state employees.
61
U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11
Edition: Correctional Officers, December 2009. http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos156.htm (Viewed on April 2, 2010). The
Labor Department occupational survey provides employment statistics by industry. The survey covers wage and salary
workers in approximately 725,000 nonfarm establishments in 400 detailed industries.
62
Ibid.
63
DOL, BLS, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition: Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment
Specialists, December 2009, http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos265.htm (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
64
CRS Report RL34297, Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Employment: National and State Trends and Issues, by
Michaela D. Platzer.
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
The median annual salary for U.S. prison guards and jailors was $38,380 in May 2008. Wages are
significantly higher for workers in government-run prisons than for those in facilities managed by
private prison companies. Federal correctional workers had median wages of $50,830, state
workers earned $38,850, local government employees $37,510, and employees at private prison
companies $28,900.65 Staffing costs are the largest share of correctional budgets, accounting for
as much as 75-80% of annual costs.66
In some states, including those with strong unions or significant overtime hours due to staff
shortages, wages can be higher. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
website notes that correctional officers can earn more than $73,000 a year, along with a benefits
and retirement package. 67
Training and educational requirements are generally most stringent in federal correctional
facilities. The Federal Bureau of Prisons calls for entry-level correctional officers to have at least
a bachelor’s degree or three years of full-time experience in a related field. 68 Some state and local
entities require at least a high school diploma or equivalent and may specify college credit for
some positions. Workers are normally required to undergo additional, specialized training after
they are hired.
A 2008 study published in Corrections Today magazine noted high turnover in the correctional
sector and difficulty recruiting qualified personnel.69 The study, conducted for the American
Correctional Association (an industry trade group), predicted that the corrections sector would be
second to the health care profession in fields most affected by a shortage of workers in coming
years. It also noted that the correctional workforce was predominately white and male, at a time
when women and minorities make up a larger share of the overall labor force. About 10% of
correctional workers held a bachelor’s degree or higher, with slightly more than a third having
some college education.
Study respondents noted that inadequate pay and benefits, burdensome hours and shift work,
a shortage of qualified applicants, and undesirable location of correctional facilities are
factors that render recruiting difficult.70
65
DOL, BLS, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition: Correctional Officers, December 2009.
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos156.htm (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
66
Scott-Hayward, Christine, The Fiscal Crisis in Correction: Rethinking Policies and Practices, Vera Institute of
Justice, July 2009, p. 2. http://www.vera.org/files/The-fiscal-crisis-in-corrections_July-2009.pdf (Viewed on April 2,
2010).
67
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Peace Officer Careers. http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/
Career_Opportunities/POR/COIndex.html (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
68
DOJ, Federal Bureau of Prisons, BOP Career Opportunities: Correctional Officers. http://www.bop.gov/jobs/
job_descriptions/correctional_officer.jsp (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
69
Sumter, Melvina “The Correctional Work Force Faces Challenges in the 21st Century,” Corrections Today, August
2008. http://www.aca.org/research/pdf/ResearchNotes_Aug08.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
70
Ibid.
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
Unions
Many prison employees have joined unions to negotiate compensation, pension and health care
benefits, and other issues. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME) represents about 62,000 corrections officers and 23,000 corrections employees,
including those working in minimum and maximum security prisons and county jails.71 States
also have associations. The California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA), formed
in 1957, represents more than 30,000 guards, prison personnel and parole agents.72 The New York
Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association represents more than 23,000 workers.73
Workers in private prison companies are far less likely to be unionized than their peers in the
public sector. According to the 2008 annual report of the Corrections Corporation of America, the
nation’s largest private prison company, less than 5% of the firm’s workers were members of
trade organizations. 74 Further, some states prohibit collective bargaining by public employees.75
AFSCME is among groups that have pushed for federal legislation to allow more public safety
workers to engage in collective bargaining.
Unions have taken an active role in the current debate over state and federal correctional policy.
CCPOA recently brought a lawsuit against California regarding its plan to require guards to take
unpaid furloughs.76 The New York Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association has run
advertisements and lobbied against state Gov. David Paterson’s proposal to close four minimum
security prisons in 2011, warning it will endanger public safety and devastate local
communities.77 AFSCME, in a news release, claimed partial credit for the State of Minnesota’s
recent decision to close a private prison in Appleton, MN, while expanding operations at a stateowned facility.
Correctional unions have come under criticism for their efforts. For example, CCPOA, which has
one of the largest political action committees in California, supported the 1994 “Three Strikes”
ballot measure and opposed a 2004 ballot measures to limit the scope of the law.78 Critics called
the moves an effort to maintain high incarceration rates and job security for prison employees.
71
AFSCME website, Jobs We Do, Corrections. http://www.afscme.org/workers/67.cfm (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
California Correctional Peace Officers Association, Resources: Furlough. http://www.ccpoa.org/members/resources/
category/furlough/ (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
73
New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association (NYSCOPBA). NYSCOPBA Fighting
Staffing Cuts and Facility Closures. http://www.nyscopba.org/fightingclosures (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
74
Corrections Corporation of America, 2008 Annual Report, p. 20. http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=
UGFyZW50SUQ9MTg3MDJ8Q2hpbGRJRD0tMXxUeXBlPTM=&t=1 (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
75
CRS Report R40738, The Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act, by Jon O. Shimabukuro and Gerald
Mayer.
76
California Correctional Peace Officers Association, Resources: Furlough. http://ccpoa.org/news/tags/tag/furloughs
(Viewed on April 2, 2010).
77
Beam, Andrew, “Corrections officers use radio, TV to fight prison closings,” LegislativeGazette.com, February 16,
2010. http://www.legislativegazette.com/Articles-c-2010-02-1665492.113122_Corrections_officers_use_radio_TV_to_fight_prison_closings.html (Viewed on April 2, 2010); Office
of New York Gov. David Paterson, “Governor Paterson Announces Agency Cuts, Facility Closures And Other
Measures to Streamline Government, Save Taxpayer Dollars,” Press Release, January 19, 2010. http://www.state.ny.us/
governor/press/press_01191005.html (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
78
University of California at Berkeley, Institute of Government Studies, California Correctional Peace Officers
Association, January 31, 2008. http://igs.berkeley.edu/library/htCaliforniaPrisonUnion.htm#Topic2 (Viewed on April
2, 2010).
72
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
The unions say their work is a legitimate exercise of political speech, borne from a desire to
ensure public safety.
Prison Construction
The federal government, states, and localities have financed and built hundreds of new prisons
during the past three decades in what may be one of the more concerted public works projects in
recent history. The number of state and federal adult correction facilities rose from 1,277 in 1990
to 1,821 in 2005, a 43% increase.79 For a time in the mid-1990s, the peak of the prison
construction boom, a new U.S. prison opened every 15 days on average. 80 The pace of
construction has begun to slow. According to the DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, the number
of state and federal adult correctional facilities increased 9% from mid-2000 to the end of 2005.
That compares to a 14% increase from 1995-2000.81
In another shift, states and the federal government are relying more on private companies to build
and run prisons. Of the 153 prisons and jails that opened between 2000 and 2005, 151 were
private institutions. The number of private facilities under contract to states or the federal
government rose by 57% during that five-year period. 82 Private facilities accounted for about 23%
of adult corrections institutions in 2005, compared to 16% in 2000. Nearly 17% of federal
prisoners were in private prisons in 2008, compared to just 3% in 1999.83
The South has traditionally had the largest concentration of facilities owned or managed by
private corporations. More recently, the West has seen rapid growth in private prison
development. In 2008,10 states had more than 20% of state and federal prisoners in their borders
housed in private prisons: Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico,
Vermont, and Wyoming. 84 Some states have geographically defined clusters of prisons. One such
79
DOJ, “Prison Construction Keeping Pace with Population Growth,” Press Release, August 7, 1997.
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/press/CSFCF95.PR(viewed on April 2, 2010); Stephan, James J., Census of State
and Federal Correctional Facilities, 2005, Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, p. 1. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/
content/pub/pdf/csfcf05.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).; Unseem, Bert and Anne Morrison Piehl, Prison State: The
Challenge of Mass Incarceration, Cambridge Studies in Criminology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
The 2005 DOJ figures include facilities that house primarily state or federal prisoners including prisons, prison farms,
prison hospitals, boot camps, community correctional centers, centers for alcohol and drug treatment, centers for parole
violators and other prisoners returned to custody, institutions for juveniles and geriatric inmates. The study did not
include city, county, and regional jails; private facilities that did not house primarily state or federal inmates; military or
immigration facilities, institutions operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Marshals Service; or hospital wards
not operated by correctional authorities.
80
Beale, Calvin L., “Rural Prisons: An Update”, Rural Development Perspectives, vol. 11, no. 2, March 2001, p. 25.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/RDP/RDP296/rdp296d.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
81
Stephan, James J. and Jennifer C. Karberg, , Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 2000, Bureau of
Justice Statistics, August 2003, p. 2. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/csfcf00.pdf (viewed on April 2, 2010).
Most prisons are medium- or minimum-security facilities. Maximum-security prisons make up about a fifth of the total.
Most prisons have fewer than 500 inmates, though there has been a increase in the number of institutions housing 2,500
inmates or more.
82
Ibid, p. 1. Private firms built 154 institutions between 1995 to 2000, out of the 204 adult correctional facilities built
during that period.
83
Sabol, William J., Heather C. West, and Matthew Cooper, “Prisoners in 2008,” Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin,
December 2009, p. 39.
84
Ibid.
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
cluster is near Florence, AZ, where there a number of correctional and immigration facilities in a
small area. Michigan’s Upper Peninsula has a number of institutions, as does northern New York
state, for example.
Rural Prisons
Prisons have been sited in both rural and urban counties, though the correctional building surge in
the 1980s and 1990s appears to have had an outsized impact in some rural areas.85 Nearly 60% of
new prisons built from 1992 to 1994, in the heat of the prison building boom, were located in
rural areas even though such counties accounted for only 20% of the population.86 From 1980 to
1991, 213 prisons opened in nonmetro counties, housing 53% of all inmates sentenced to new
U.S. prisons. By comparison, just 38% of inmates housed in older facilities were located in
nonmetro places, and just 23% of the total U.S. population lived in rural areas during that period.
The Pennsylvania Legislature’s Center for Rural Pennsylvania found that prisoners were one of
the fastest-growing segments of the state’s rural population from 1990 to 2000. In a report based
on 2000 Census data, the Center estimated that the percentage of people in prisons in rural
Pennsylvania rose by 187% from 1990 to 2000, compared to a 46% increase in prisoners in urban
areas. In 2000, rural areas had 11 prisoners per 1,000 residents, compared to 5 prisoners per 1,000
for urban areas.87
In a separate study, Pennsylvania State University researchers created a special data set to track
U.S. prison construction through the end of 1995 and examine institutions by type of facility,
location, and other indicators. They found that nearly 40% (576) of the 1,500 prisons in operation
at the end of 1995 were located in rural areas. Roughly 210 of those rural prisons, 36%, were
built from 1985 to 1995; the height of the prison building boom. 88 (According to Census data,
75% of the population was located in urban areas in 1990, with 25% in rural regions.)89 Part of
the reason that rural counties are home to so many correctional institutions is the fact that many
communities actively competed for prisons, as an economic development strategy. (See
Economic Impacts below.)
85
Beale, Calvin, L. “Rural Prisons: An Update”, Rural Development Perspectives, vol. 11, no. 2, March 2001,
Washington, DC: Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. p. 25. http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/
RDP/RDP296/rdp296d.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010)..
86
Ibid. The findings follow earlier research by Beale who found that from 1980 to 1991, 213 prisons opened in
nonmetro counties. The rural prisons held 53% of all prisoners sentenced to new prisons around the country. By
comparison, only 38% of inmates in older facilities were located in nonmetro places, and 23% of the total U.S.
population lived in nonmetro counties
87
The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, Newsletter, November/December 2001. http://www.rural.palegislature.us/
news1101.html. The report found that from 1990 to 2000, Pennsylvania’s rural county population grew by 5.4%. If
prisoners were not included in the rural population count, the growth rate would have been 4.7% in rural areas—a 0.7
percentage point difference. By comparison, factoring out the prison population would have reduced the growth rate in
urban counties by less than 0.2 percentage points. (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
88
Glasmeier, Amy K. and Tracey Farrigan, “The Economic Impacts of the Prison Development Boom on Persistently
Poor Rural Places,” International Regional Science Review, Vol. 30, No. 3 (2007), p. 4. A version of this paper is
available at http://www.povertyinamerica.psu.edu/products/publications/prison_development/prison_development.pdf
(Viewed on April 2, 2010).
89
U.S. Census Bureau, 1990 Census of Population and Housing, “Population: 1790 to 1990,” http://www.census.gov/
population/www/censusdata/files/table-4.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
Prison growth is not an exclusively rural issue, but a prison site can have an major impact on a
small community. The Urban Institute, in a 2004 study, looked at 10 states with the fastestgrowing prison populations during the 1980s and 1990s. The study found that in those states, the
majority of institutions were built in metro rather than rural areas. But in an indication of how a
prison can alter the demographics of a rural area, 13 counties in the states that were studied—
most of non-metro counties—inmates accounted for 20% or more of total population. All the
states had at least five counties where 5% or more of the population was incarcerated.90
Cost and Overcrowding
As the prison population has grown, states have had a hard time keeping pace. Recent data shows
overcrowding is beginning to ease, though it is still a problem in a number of states. The DOJ
reported that state prisons were operating at 97% of highest capacity in 2008, down from 114% in
1995.91 Still, 13 states were operating at more than 100% of highest capacity, while federal
institutions were also overcrowded. 92
California, for example, is grappling with court orders to reduce its prison population.93 The state
is taking steps to deal with its problems, including transferring inmates to other states with excess
capacity and building new prisons. In Pennsylvania, which registered a 9% increase in the
number of prisoners in state and federal facilities from 2007 to 2008 (the largest of any state),
lawmakers recently voted to send 3,000 inmates to institutions in other states until Pennsylvania
can open more prisons.94
Cornell Companies, one of the nation’s largest private prison firms, in releasing its fourth quarter
2009 earnings report on February 24, 2010, noted mounting state budget pressures. But the firm
said there was still sufficient state and federal business to support growth.95 In its 2008 annual
report, for example, Cornell said state and federal authorities would need 35,000 to 40,000 beds
annually for the next few years, while only about 12,000 to 15,000 a year were in the pipeline.
The company also predicted that the weak economy would make it harder for individuals released
from prison to find work and avoid situations that could lead them back into confinement:
90
Lawrence, Sarah and Jeremy Travis, The New Landscape of Imprisonment: Mapping America’s Prison Expansion,
Urban Institute Justice Policy Center, April 2004, p. 1. http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/
410994_mapping_prisons.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
91
Sabol, William J., Heather C. West, and Matthew Cooper, “Prisoners in 2008,” Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin,
December 2009. p. 9. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/p08.pdf According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics,
“Highest capacity is the sum of the maximum number of beds and inmates reported by the states and the federal system
across the three capacity measures.” The three measures are: rated capacity, operational capacity, and design capacity.
92
Ibid.
93
Coleman v. Schwarzenegger, No. CIV S-90-0520 LKK JFM P, Three-Judge Court and Plata v. Schwarzenegger, No.
C01-1351 TEH, Three-Judge Court, United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, August 4, 2009.
See also: Plata v. Schwarzenegger, 560 F.3d 976 (9th Cir. Cal., 2009). The Order of the Three Judge Court is at
http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/general/2009/08/04/Opinion%20&%20Order%20FINAL.pdf (viewed on April
2, 2010). Moore, Solomon, “Court Orders California to Cut Prison Population,” New York Times, February 9, 2009.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/us/10prison.html (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
94
Sabol, William J., Heather C. West, and Matthew Cooper, “Prisoners in 2008,” Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin,
December 2009, p. 17; Jackson, Peter, “Pa. plans to send inmates away,” Associated Press, November 23, 2009.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/20091123_Pa__plans_to_send_inmates_away.html (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
95
Cornell Companies, “Cornell Companies Reports Fourth-Quarter Earnings Above Guidance,” Press Release,
February 24, 2010. http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=94469&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1395235&highlight=
(Viewed on April 2, 2010).
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
At core, demand for beds results from high rates of recidivism among released offenders and
an increasing length of sentence for those repeat offenders. Recidivism itself is highly
correlated with employment opportunities for offenders; getting a job helps keep an exoffender straight. Moreover, the probability of employment for an ex-offender increases
substantially with in-prison programs for adult basic education, substance abuse treatment
and vocational training followed by re-entry via a “halfway house” program. Unfortunately,
in this economy, these factors, unemployment and budget cuts to those in-prison treatment,
education and vocational programs, lead one to conclude that demand for prison beds will
likely remain strong, while the ability of government agencies to build their own beds
remains constrained. As an industry, private corrections can provide beds quickly and cost
effectively. 96
Many states are scaling back corrections spending. At least 22 states have shut institutions,
reduced the number of beds, halted expansions or delayed opening new facilities, partly in
response to state budget problems. 97 New York Gov. Paterson’s proposed 2011 budget calls for
closing four facilities. 98 Arizona officials in December announced they would transfer some
illegal immigrants from state prisons to federal custody for the final months of their sentences;
the move is expected to save the state about $6 million a year.99 Other states are also considering
transferring more prisoners who are illegal immigrants to federal custody. California Gov.
Schwarzenegger in his State-of-the-State address in January 2010 recommended an amendment to
the state constitution to assure that prison spending could not exceed higher education funding, a
goal that would be met partially through privatizing some prisons.100 It is too soon to say whether
the budget problems will bring about a fundamental rethinking of the prison system, or less
sweeping, temporary changes.
Financing
Though legislators have approved a number of laws instituting tougher, mandatory sentences,
they have sometimes been less able to persuade voters to approve financing for the jails and
prisons needed to house the rising number of offenders. Further, states may operate under debt
caps that limit their ability to issue bonds. In response, state and local governments have
developed new methods to finance prisons and other public institutions including courthouses,
schools, and equipment. These alternative financing arrangements are generally not subject to
voter approval.
96
Cornell Companies, 2008 Annual Report, Introduction, p. 2. http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=
UGFyZW50SUQ9MzM3NDI3fENoaWxkSUQ9MzIyMDEwfFR5cGU9MQ==&t=1 (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
97
Scott-Hayward, Christine, The Fiscal Crisis in Correction: Rethinking Policies and Practices, Vera Institute of
Justice, July 2009, p. 6. http://www.vera.org/files/The-fiscal-crisis-in-corrections_July-2009.pdf (Viewed on April 2,
2010). Not all states are in a position to close facilities. States that have taken action to reduce their prison populations
have been able to carry out such moves.
98
Office of New York Gov. David Paterson, “Governor Paterson Announces Agency Cuts, Facility Closures And
Other Measures to Streamline Government, Save Taxpayer Dollars,” Press Release, January 19, 2010.
http://www.state.ny.us/governor/press/press_01191005.html (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
99
Steinhauer, Jennifer, “Arizona Prisons Plan to Transfer Illegal Immigrants to Federal Authority,” New York Times,
December 21, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/us/22arizona.html (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
100
California, Office of the Governor, “Fact Sheet: State of the State 2010 Reshaping our Priorities to Shift Funding
From Prisons to Universities,” January 6, 2010. http://gov.ca.gov/index.php?/fact-sheet/14126/ (Viewed on April 2,
2010).
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A 1999 report prepared for the Association of State Correctional Administrators spelled out some
details of the alternative financing arrangements:
The issuance of general obligation bonds has been the traditional methodology for financing
prison facilities, but over time there has been increasing use of revenue bonds and certificates
of participation, known as COPs. In the latter two, the debt is not secured by the general
obligation of the state or municipality issuing the debt, but by a pledge of the streams of
revenues that are generated by use of the facility. In a corrections context the revenue
streams are payments made for housing inmates in the facility (per diem or fixed payment
amounts), or for the exclusive use of the facility. A revenue bond or COP transaction might
be structured to also include certain tax revenues or user fees as pledged revenues. Revenue
Bonds and COPs will generally not be included within the state or local government’s
101
overall debt limit.
Voters have challenged alternative financing efforts in court, however. In California, for example,
a citizen’s group called Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety filed lawsuits challenging the
constitutionality of a particular type of bonds for prison finance. The group argued that the bonds
would violate California’s debt limit because they had not been approved by voters. A California
appeals court in March 2009 ruled that the state had the legal power to use the bonds.102
State budget documents offer some illustrative examples of prison funding trends. In Oregon, the
state’s Certificate of Participation (COP) debt rose from $191 million in FY1995 to about $1.1
billion in FY2008. A special state advisory commission reported that the increase was “directly
related to the passage of Ballot Measure 11 by Oregon voters in 1994. Measure 11 created
mandatory minimum penalties for specified crimes and required that juveniles charged with
certain violent crimes be tried and sentenced as adults.”103 Nearly 60% of Oregon COP
obligations are related to running the state’s prisons, community corrections system, and juvenile
justice system.
The State of Colorado had about $130 million of COP debt for prisons outstanding in 2008, out
of a total of $383 million in such financing.104 Colorado in 2006 used COP bonds to fund a new
high-security Colorado State Penitentiary. Due to a lawsuit challenging the financing system, in
addition to state budget problems, the institution may not open as planned. The state is currently
examining financing options to allow it to operate at least part of the prison.105
Even though lease revenue and COP bonds are commonly used by states and municipalities, there
can be drawbacks. The financing can be more expensive than other conventional bonds because
they are viewed by investors as less secure. Even if bonds issued by a municipality are not backed
by its taxing authority, a government can suffer via an impaired credit rating if it is unable or
101
Gold, Martin E., Alternatives for Financing Prison Facilities, Report for the Association of State Correctional
Administrators by Brown & Wood LLP, 1999, p. iii. http://www.asca.net/documents/alt_main_000.pdf (Viewed on
April 2, 2010).
102
Saskal, Rich, “California Appeals Court Upholds Lease Revenue Bond Holding, Bond Buyer, March 31, 2009.
103
Oregon State Debt Policy Advisory Commission, 2009 Legislative Update, January 9, 2009, p. 17.
http://www.ost.state.or.us/divisions/DMD/SDPAC/SDPAC.Report.2009.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
104
Colorado, Department of the Treasury, Public Finance and Debt Issuance. http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/
Treasury/TR/1190709088150 (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
105
Alexander, Rachel, “CSP II Will Open This Year,” Canon City Daily Record, February 19, 2010.
http://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/Top-Story.asp?ID=12998 (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
unwilling to make scheduled payments. 106 On a related note, the inability or unwillingness of
state and local governments to seek voter approval for prison construction has contributed to their
increasing reliance on private prison companies, which have their own sources of financing and
may not need voter approval to finance new prisons.
Private Sector
As federal, state, and local governments have increased spending on prisons, they have contracted
with the private sector for financing, design, construction, management, and staffing of prisons,
jails, and other correctional facilities. Private firms also provide services including health care,
education, transportation, and counseling. Public-private partnerships are in keeping with a
growing trend to contract out government services. They also reflect the long history of private
sector involvement in U.S. prisons.
Table 3. Number of State or Federal Prisoners in Private Facilities, 2000-2008
Number of Prisoners
Total
Federal
State
Percent of all
Prisoners
2000
87,369
15,524
71,845
6.3%
2001
91,828
19,251
72,577
5.8%
2002
93,912
20,274
73,638
6.5%
2003
95,707
21,865
73,842
6.5%
2004
98,628
24,768
73,860
6.6%
2005
107,940
27,046
80,894
7.1%
2006
113,697
27,726
85,971
7.2%
2007
123,942
31,310
92,632
7.8%
2008
128,524
33,162
95,362
8.0%
Year
Average annual
change 2000-07
5.1%
10.5%
3.7%
:
Percent change
2007-08
3.7%
5.9%
2.9%
:
Source: Sabol, William J., Heather C. West, and Matthew Cooper, Prisoners in 2008, Appendix Table 18.
Note: Figures are as of December 31 for each calendar year.
106
Provus, Stan, CDFA Spotlight: Lease/Appropriation-Backed Bonds, Council of Development Finance Agencies.
http://www.cdfa.net/cdfa/cdfaweb.nsf/pages/tlcjan2006.html (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
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Advocates of the private correctional industry call it a cost-effective means of providing safe and
humane services to inmates. Private prisons, mainly minimum- or medium-security facilities, are
newer, less crowded, and more technologically advanced. Critics, including labor unions,
religious groups, and prisoners’ rights organizations, warn of the rise of a “prison-industrial
complex”—a sector dependent on government funds, with a vested interest in the continuation or
expansion of the prison system. They call incarceration a core government service and worry that
private companies have an incentive to stint on services or staff to increase profits. The debate has
been inflamed by high-profile cases at some private prisons, including a 1998 incident when six
prisoners escaped from a Corrections Corporation of America prison in Youngstown, OH. A
subsequent DOJ investigation showed major problems at the facility.107 More recently, several
deaths and a spate of lawsuits have raised questions about the quality of care provided at facilities
holding immigrants pending possible deportation, including at facilities operated by private
prison companies.108
A debate within the architecture and design community illustrates some of the conflict and
crosscurrents regarding corrections privatization. Architecture firms have worked with state and
local governments to design jails and prisons that are safer for both guards and prisoners.
Innovations include placing housing around a central break room, allowing more movement and
natural light, and making the exterior of jail buildings more street friendly, particularly if they are
located in urban areas. The American Institute of Architects has an awards competition for justice
and correctional projects. But more than 1,000 architects and designers have signed a petition
calling for professionals to boycott the design, construction, or renovation of a jail or prison. The
petition sponsors say the current incarceration rate is too high and the focus should instead be on
finding alternatives to prison. 109
Further, during the past decade, some college students have urged school administrators to drop
food service contracts with firms that also sell services to prisons or to divest from financial funds
or products that include private prison company investments.110
Despite the controversy and the possibility of additional reductions in state corrections spending,
investors seem to believe private prisons offers growth potential. Private prison companies have
reported increased revenues in recent earnings reports.
107
Clark, John L., Report to the Attorney General: Independent Review of the Management and Operations of the
Northeast Ohio Correctional Center (NEOCC) in Youngstown, Ohio, Owned and Operated by the Corrections
Corporation of America (CCA). Washington, DC: Office of the Corrections Trustee for the District of Columbia,
November 25, 1998. Available at http://www.justice.gov/ag/youngstown/youngstown.htm (viewed on April 2, 2010).
General Accounting Office (GAO), District of Columbia: Issues Related to the Youngstown Prison Report and Lorton
Closure Process, GAO/GCD-0086. Available at http://www.gao.gov/archive/2000/gg00086.pdf (Viewed on April 2,
2010).
108
Priest, Dana and Amy Goldstein, “System of Neglect,” Washington Post, May 11, 2008.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/specials/immigration/cwc_d1p1.html
109
Dickinson, Elizabeth, “The Future of Incarceration,” Architect, June 2008. http://www.architectmagazine.com/
Design/the-future-of-incarceration.aspx?page=1 (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
110
Cray, Charlie, “Behind the Lines: No to Prison Food,” Multinational Monitor, Vol. 22, No. 6, June 2001.
http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/mm2001/062001/lines.html (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
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Figure 3. Percentage of Prisoners in Private Prisons
Percentage of adult incarcerated prisoners in private institutions
Source: Map prepared by CRS based on DOJ, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2008, Appendix Table 19.
Notes: Overall, 8% of all U.S. prisoners are in private institutions, including 6.8% of state prisoners and 16.5% of
federal inmates.
Private Prison Companies
Private companies that build and manage prisons are probably the most visible part of the private
correctional industry. The companies have been experiencing a turnaround since a slump in the
late 1990s, when some ran into severe problems due to overbuilding and failed efforts to
reorganize as Real Estate Investment Trusts.111 Private prisons made up 23% of all state and
federal institutions in 2005, compared to 16% in 2000.112 The federal government is the biggest
client of the publicly traded prison firms, accounting for about 40% of revenues at the Corrections
Corporation of America in recent years and about a third of the business at Cornell Corrections,
for example.
111
Berestein, Leslie, “A once ailing private-prison sector is now a revenue maker,” Copley News Service, May 2008,
http://www.hermes-press.com/prison0.htm (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
112
Stephan, James J., Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 2005, Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice
Statistics, p. 1. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/csfcf05.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
Private sector involvement in the prison system, in its most recent incarnation, began in the 1970s
when the state and municipal governments began contracting with private companies to house
juveniles. It gained momentum during the 1980s as state prisons became overcrowded and the
federal government turned to private institutions to house detained immigrants. 113 Even though
private sector involvement has grown to the point that private companies oversee 8% of all
prisoners, there are conflicting data regarding whether private prisons offer either significant cost
savings or increased quality. A 2007 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report said the
Federal Bureau of Prisons did not collect enough detailed information to determine whether
private prison companies provided long-term cost efficiencies or comparable quality, compared to
the expected cost of government management. 114 The Bureau of Prisons responded that it had
sufficient data due to its previous work on the issue.
In 1996, lawmakers instructed the Bureau of Prisons to conduct a five-year demonstration project
comparing the cost of public prisons versus a private prison in Taft, CA. The Bureau of Prisons
did its own follow-up evaluation and also paid for an independent analysis by consulting firm Abt
Associates, Inc. The two reports produced findings that were significant enough that DOJ
officials in 2008 held a special meeting to discuss approaches in methodology regarding the
issue.115 For example, the Abt report said the private Taft facility was cheaper to run than three
comparable public facilities, noting that in 2002 the average cost of the public facilities was
14.8% above that of the private prison. The Bureau of Prisons found, however, that the average
cost of the public facilities in 2002 was only 2.2% more than the private prison.116
A 2001 report commissioned by the DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Assistance concluded that average
savings from privatization were about 1%, due mainly to lower labor costs, compared to earlier
estimates of as much as 20%. The study found that private companies could build prisons faster
and more cheaply, and added that the mere prospect of prison privatization may have made prison
administrators more open to certain reforms.117 A report by Vanderbilt University researchers
(partially funded by the prison industry) indicated that private contractors can provide similar
outcomes for less money.118
113
Austin, James and Garry Coventry, Emerging Issues on Privatized Prisons, Washington, DC: Department of
Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, February 2001, p. 12. Available at http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/bja/181249.pdf
(Viewed on April 2, 2010).
114
U.S. Government Accountability Office, Cost of Prisons: Bureau of Prisons Needs Better Data to Assess
Alternatives for Acquiring Low and Minimum Security Facilities Cost, Report GAO-08-6, October 2007, p. 4.
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d086.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
115
Gaes, Gerry, “Cost, Performance Studies Look at Prison Privatization,” NIJ Journal, No. 259, Washington, DC:
Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, March 18, 2008. http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/221507.pdf
(Viewed on April 2, 2010).
116
Ibid.
117
Austin, James and Garry Coventry, Emerging Issues on Privatized Prisons, Washington, DC: Department of Justice,
Bureau of Justice Assistance, February 2001, available at http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/bja/181249.pdf (Viewed on
April 2, 2010).
118
Blumstein, James, Mark A. Cohen and Susan Seth, “Do Government Agencies Respond to Market Pressure?
Evidence from Private Prisons,” Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law, Vol. 15(3), p. 446 - 477, Spring 2008.
Initial work on the study was funded in part by the Corrections Corporation of America and the Association for Private
Correctional and Treatment Organizations. Later research was funded by the Owen Graduate School of Management
and Vanderbilt Law School. This article is available at http://www.correctionscorp.com/static/assets/
Blumstein_Cohen_Study.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
The DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Assistance study also found three main differences between private
and public prisons. Private prisons have lower staff-to-inmate ratios, less sophisticated
information management systems, and a higher reported rate of serious incidents involving
inmates.119 Cost savings were not significant in private prisons, according to the study.
Some state data show that private prisons have lower daily per-inmate costs than public
institutions. The effectiveness of state oversight is a major factor, however. New Mexico has
nearly 46% of its prison population in private facilities, the largest proportion of any state. A 2007
study by the New Mexico legislature found the state was spending more than needed on the
facilities. For example, the report found that state spending on private prison contracts had
increased 57% since 2001, due to features such as automatic inflation adjustments in contracts,
including fixed-price construction contracts.120
Kevin Campbell of independent investment firm Avondale Partners says costs and potential cost
savings vary widely from state to state.121 Based on his analysis, some state governments have
tight oversight and may post significant savings by contracting out with private firms that pay
lower salaries and do not offer pension benefits equivalent to those for public workers. He also
says states can realize significant savings by shipping prisoners to existing, private institutions in
other states, rather than building new prisons of their own.
The federal government is now the most important single customer for private prison companies.
There have been concerns that federal agencies could face problems if private firms were to
encounter financial difficulties.122 There are also concerns in the investment community about
potential liability issues as some legislatures tighten oversight of private prisons. A recent report
by the Florida legislature noted continuing challenges in setting performance standards for private
institutions and ensuring they provided health care and other services comparable to public
institutions.123 Florida in 1993 created a Correctional Privatization Commission to work with
private firms to develop private prisons. The Commission was disbanded in 2005 after a series of
scandals, including embezzlement and ethics violations. Responsibility for overseeing private
prisons was transferred to the State Department of Management Services. States are currently
making a new push to contract out prison services, and the federal government is relying more on
private prisons, even though there is a lack of consensus in some areas such as how best to
compare costs and quality between public and private prisons.
119
Austin, James and Garry Coventry, Emerging Issues on Privatized Prisons, Washington, DC: Department of Justice,
Bureau of Justice Assistance, February 2001, p, 52, available at http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/bja/181249.pdf
(Viewed on April 2, 2010).
120
New Mexico, Legislative Finance Committee, Corrections Department: Review of Facility Planning Efforts and
Oversight of Private Prisons and Health Programs, Report #07-04, May 23, 2007. http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/lfc/
lfcdocs/perfaudit/CorrectionsFacilities0507.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
121
Interview with Kevin Campbell, February Feb 19, 2010.
122
DOJ, Office of the Inspector General, The Department of Justice’s Reliance on Private Contractors for Prison
Services, Report No. 01-16, July 31, 2001, http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/plus/a0116/final.pdf (Viewed on April 2,
2010). The 2001 audit by the DOJ Office of Inspector General noted that federal entities were becoming more
dependent on private prisons and stressed the need for contingency plans in the event private firms ran into financial
difficulties that could make it hard for them to fulfill contracts.
123
Florida, Legislature, Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability, While DMS Has Improved
Monitoring, It Needs to Strengthen Private Prison Oversight and Contracts, December 2008, available at
http://www.oppaga.state.fl.us/reports/pdf/0871rpt.pdf (Viewed April 2, 2010).
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The Private Prison Industry
Three publicly traded private prison companies now dominate the industry and merit special
attention.
Corrections Corporation of America
The Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) is the nation’s largest private prison firm. The
Tennessee-based company controls nearly 87,000 beds (a common capacity measure) at 65
institutions. The company owns 44 facilities and manages the rest.124 At the end of 2008, CCA
had approximately 17,400 employees. The firm reported $1.6 billion in 2008 revenues, nearly
double the $887 million in revenues reported for 2001.125 Federal contracts accounted for about
40% of CCA total revenue in 2008, up from 32% in 2002.126
The company has rebounded since the early 2000s, when it took on too much debt,127 and has
increased earnings even during the economic downturn. In the fourth quarter of 2009, the CCA
reported a 4% increase in revenues, compared to the same period in 2008. The company had net
income of $42.5 million, or 36 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2009, up from 32 cents per
share during the same period in the previous year.128
The occupancy rate in CCA-owned or managed facilities, a key gauge, was 91.5% in the fourth
quarter of 2009, down from average occupancy of more than 96% from 2006 to 2008. The rise in
empty beds was due in part to the opening of new facilities. But the company also noted in its
release that it has lost some prison contracts due to tight state budgets. CCA has been building
institutions on the premise that a number of state and federal institutions are still so overcrowded
that officials will have to turn to the private sector.
In its fourth quarter 2009 earnings report, CCA officials noted that company faced the risk that
customers, such as the State of California, might not be able to pay their bills on time, or might
ask for concessions. Todd Mullenger, chief financial officer and executive vice president, told
financial analysts during a February 2010 conference call: “Debt, along with the risks that other
customers delay payments are issues we will monitor … uncertainty remains related to the
general economy and around government budget deficits. This is the primary uncertainty in risk
we face in 2010.”129
124
Corrections Corporation of America, http://www.correctionscorp.com/ (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
Corrections Corporation of America, 2008 Annual Report, p. 29 and 2005 Annual Report, p. 11,
http://ir.correctionscorp.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117983&p=irol-reportsannual (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
126
Corrections Corporation of America, 2008 Annual Report, p. 11, http://ir.correctionscorp.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=
117983&p=irol-reportsannual.
127
Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P., Prisons’ Dilemma, October 20, 2009. PowerPoint presentation at
http://www.scribd.com/doc/21624762/Bill-Ackman-s-Presentation-on-Corrections-Corp-of-America-CXW-the-ValueInvesting-Congress (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
128
Corrections Corporation of America, “CCA Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2009 Financial Results,” Press
Release, February 9, 2010 http://ir.correctionscorp.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117983&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1385706&
highlight= (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
129
Seeking Alpha, “Corrections Corporation of America Q4 2009 Earnings Call Transcript,” February 10, 2010,
http://seekingalpha.com/article/187861-corrections-corporation-of-america-q4-2009-earnings-call-transcript?page=1
(Viewed on April 2, 2010).
125
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New York-based Pershing Square Capital Management, a prominent hedge fund, in December
2009 bought a 9.5% share in CCA. Pershing Square officials in a presentation to investors
described CCA as a “high quality real estate business.”130
In recent weeks, CCA has both profited from, and been buffeted by, state spending decisions.
CCA recently secured contracts to house 10,000 California inmates at CCA facilities in Arizona,
Mississippi, and Oklahoma. 131 But the company in December 2009 announced it would close an
Appleton, MN facility that had been in operation since 1996. Minnesota is consolidating its
prison population in existing state facilities. The company in January 2010 announced that the
State of Arizona had decided not to renew its contract to house inmates at the CCA 752-bed
Huerfano County Correctional Center in Colorado.132 In early January, the State of Kentucky
ordered 400 female inmates removed from the CCA’s Otter Creek Correctional Complex to a
state-run prison. The state acted in response to allegations of sexual misconduct by CCA
guards.133
Geo Group
Geo Group, headquartered in Boca Raton, FL, operates prisons and other correctional centers in
the United States and overseas.134 Geo Group owns or manages 61 facilities with 60,000 beds
worldwide with more than 13,000 full-time staff. The company also operates a migrant operations
center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, housing people caught trying to enter the United States
illegally. The company provides education and mental health treatment. Revenues were $1.14
billion in 2009, up from $1.04 billion in 2008.135 The firm expects revenues in the range of $1.11
to $1.13 billion in 2010. The company’s average occupancy rate for its corrections operations
declined to 93.7% in 2009 from 95.7% in 2008.
According to the company’s 2008 Annual Report, federal contracts accounted for a third of the
company’s revenues in 2008, with another 19% from the State of Florida and 12% from overseas
operations.136 The company views provision of mental health services as a key growth area. The
firm’s GEO Care subsidiary expanded to 1,700 beds and $113.8 million in revenues in 2007 from
325 beds and $31.7 million in revenues in 2004.137 GEO Group estimates the overall market for
state/local mental health services at $6 billion.
130
Barr, Alistair, “Ackman Highlights Corrections as top real estate play,” Marketwatch, Oct 20, 2009,
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fund-manager-ackman-highlights-corrections-corp-2009-10-20 (Viewed on April
2, 2010).
131
Morain, Dan, “Private prisons? A sweet deal for some,” Sacramento Bee, January 7, 2010, http://www.sacbee.com/
1190/story/2443722.html (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
132
Correction Corporation of America, News Releases, http://ir.correctionscorp.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117983&p=irolnews&nyo=0 (viewed April 2, 2010).
133
Gee, Brandon, “Sexual misconduct allegations threaten CCA contract,” Nashville Business Journal, March 1, 2010,
http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2010/03/01/daily6.html (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
134
GEO Group, “Who We Are,” http://www.thegeogroupinc.com/about.asp (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
135
GEO Group, “The GEO Group Reports Fourth Quarter 2009 Results and Announces $80.0 Million Stock
Repurchase Program,” Press Release, February 22, 2010, http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=91331&p=irolnewsArticle_print&ID=1393451&highlight= (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
136
GEO Group, 2008 Annual Report, p. 1, http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=91331&p=irol-reportsAnnual
(Viewed on April 2, 2010).
137
GEO Group, 2007 Annual Report, p. 5, http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=91331&p=irol-reportsAnnual
(Viewed on April 2, 2010).
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
The federal government has become an increasingly important customer for the company,
including growth in detaining immigrants. In a conference call to discuss fourth quarter 2008
earnings, corporate officials noted that federal contracts account for about half of corporate
earnings under some measures, though they make up just 37% of revenues.138
Cornell Companies
Cornell Companies runs prisons and juvenile detention centers and provides drug and alcohol
counseling, rehabilitation, and education services. The firm has about 70 facilities in 15 states and
the District of Columbia, with a total capacity of 21,392 prisoners. The company was running at
average occupancy of about 91% during the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to 92% during the
same period in the previous year.139 About 34% of the company’s revenues came from contracts
with the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 2008. No other customer accounted for more than 10% of
company revenues. 140
Cornell Companies’ revenues increased from $277 million in 2004 to $412 million in 2009.
Cornell expects the bulk of its future growth to come from institutions housing adult prisoners.141
Other Private Firms
Large firms and small businesses across the country provide essential services and products to the
corrections sector, from health care to meal trays to surveillance and security equipment. Many
companies that contract with prisons and jails are members of the American Correctional
Association (ACA), which describes itself as an organization of “professionals representing all
levels and facets of corrections and criminal justice, including federal, state and military
correctional facilities, county jails and metropolitan detention centers, probation and parole
agencies and community corrections/halfway houses.” The ACA has 62 chapters and affiliated
organizations, with more than 20,000 additional individual members.142
The ACA website includes a marketing center with links to hundreds of firms around the country
that provide services to the correctional sector. Other correctional business associations include
the Detention Equipment Manufacturers Division of the National Association of Architectural
Metal Manufacturers and The Association of Correctional Food Service Affiliates.
One of the biggest prison-associated growth areas is the provision of inmate health care. In the
case of prisoners, the Supreme Court has held that they are entitled to adequate medical care as a
component of protections accorded by the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.143 A 2009
138
Seeking Alpha, “The GEO Group Inc. Q4 2008 Earnings Call Transcript, February 12, 2009,”
http://seekingalpha.com/article/120353-the-geo-group-inc-q4-2008-earnings-call-transcript?page=1 (Viewed on April
2, 2010).
139
Cornell Companies, “Cornell Companies Reports Fourth Quarter Earnings Above Guidance,” Press Release,
February 24, 2010 http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=94469&p=irol-newsArticle_print&ID=1395235&
highlight= (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
140
Cornell Companies, 2008 Annual Report, p. 55, http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=
UGFyZW50SUQ9MzM3NDI3fENoaWxkSUQ9MzIyMDEwfFR5cGU9MQ==&t=1 (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
141
Ibid.
142
American Correctional Association, http://www.aca.org/advertise/audience.asp (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
143
CRS Report R40846, Health Care: Constitutional Rights and Legislative Powers, by Kathleen S. Swendiman, p. 5.
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
study by Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School illustrates the scope of health
concerns, and the potential market, in U.S. correctional institutions. The researchers, using 2002
and 2004 DOJ data, found that about 40% of the two million people in U.S. prisons and jails had
chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma or heart problems—a far higher rate than other
Americans of a similar age.144 About a quarter of the inmates had a history of mental illness,
including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or depression, but two-thirds of those in custody were
not using prescribed drugs at the time they were incarcerated.
Among private sector firms offering inmate health services is the Tennessee-based America
Service Group, which owns Correctional Health Services and Prison Health Services. The
company works with federal, state, and local governments, as well as private entities. America
Service Group, which announced full year 2009 revenues of $610 million, a 21% increase from
the previous year.145 The company had nearly 4,000 employees at the end of 2008, and estimated
that it had about 6.6% of the combined private and non-private market for correctional health
care. Other large, private-sector competitors include Correctional Medical Services and Wexford
Health Services. 146
Other notable private-sector firms:
•
The New Jersey-based Community Education Centers provides education,
counseling, and related services to 30,000 offenders in 19 states. The privately
held firm employs more than 4,000 people. 147
•
Aramark, one of the nation’s largest food service providers, operates Aramark
Correctional Services at more than 600 prisons and jails, preparing more than a
million meals a day.148
•
Tiger Correctional Services of Arkansas, which also provides food services, has
doubled in size during the past several years. The company now provides food
and commissary services and jail management software to 150 jails in 20
states.149
•
The Keefe Group, working through affiliates, supplies electronics, clothing and
technology to the correctional commissary market. The company has grown to
2,000 employees from two workers in 1975. Among its products is a specialized
MP3 player sold to prisons through Access Corrections, a subsidiary. The Access
to Entertainment program is one of the top U.S. providers of digital music.
•
Cornerstone Detention Products of Alabama builds and renovates correction
facilities and sells products, such as furniture, locks, gates, and personal supplies,
144
Wilper, Andrew P., Steffie Woolhandler, J. Wesley Boyd, Karen E. Lasser, Danny McCormick, David H. Bor, and
David U. Himmelstein, “The Health and Health Care of U.S. Prisoners: A Nationwide Survey,” American Journal of
Public Health, Vol. 99, No. 4, 2009, pp. 666-672.
145
America Service Group, “America Service Group Announces Fourth Quarter and Year End Results,” Press Release,
March 2, 2010, at http://investor.asgr.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117621&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1397878&highlight=
(Viewed on April 2, 2010).
146
America Service Group, 2008 Annual Report, p. 8, at http://www.asgr.com/ (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
147
Community Education Centers, http://www.cecintl.com/About/Message.htm (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
148
Aramark Correctional Services, http://www.aramarkcorrections.com/ (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
149
Tiger Correctional Services, http://www.tigercommissary.com/about-tiger-commissary.html (Viewed on April 2,
2010).
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
including toothbrushes and soap. The firm was named one of the nation’s fastest
growing companies in 2007 by Inc. magazine. 150
•
Argyle Security Inc. provides electronic monitoring and construction services to
the corrections industry. Argyle, which had about 600 full-time employees in
2008, estimated that the North American electronic security market was $27
billion at the end of 2007, of which 67% was in the commercial-industrial area.151
Phone Service
Jails and prisons negotiate exclusive contracts with telephone carriers to serve their institutions.
Organizations such as the National Sheriffs Association say such contractual arrangements ensure
security and allow them to monitor inmate phone calls. Groups representing prisoners, including
the Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE) and their families, say that
telephone providers often pay prison operators a high percentage of the fees they collect for
prisoners’ collect calls, and then charge inmates well-above general market rates for service.
Groups seeking to change the system say commissions on telephone service can be as high as 4565% of gross revenues generated by the service. 152 Some states, including New York, have altered
their practices in response to complaints. The Federal Communications Commission has been
petitioned to set rates for inmate calls. The National Sheriffs Association told Congress in June
2009 that changing the rules could endanger public safety.153
Economic Impact
Prisons have been viewed as an economic development tool by a number of small, rural towns.
Localities see the facilities as recession-proof tools to stabilize population and employment, while
spurring retailing, homebuilding, and associated activities. Rural communities have provided
incentives to lure prison development, including infrastructure upgrades and bond financing.
Some towns have financed and built their own prisons, counting on forecasts of increasing prison
populations to fill the new cells. CCA has been expanding its inventory as well. It has been
building prisons based on projections that states and the federal government will not be able to
finance and build enough prison beds to alleviate overcrowding, and will have to look to the
private sector for a quick solution. CCA officials term their strategy “thoughtful disciplined
150
Cornerstone Detention Products. http://www.cornerstonedetention.com/ (Viewed onApril 2, 2010).
Argyle Security Inc., 2008 Annual Report, p. 11. http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=
UGFyZW50SUQ9Mzk4OHxDaGlsZElEPS0xfFR5cGU9Mw==&t=1 (viewed April 2, 2010).
152
U.S. Congress, House, Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and
the Internet, Legislative Hearing on H.R. 1147, the Local Community Radio Act of 2009, H.R. 1133, the Family
Telephone Connection Protection Act of 2009, and H.R. 1084, the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act
(CALM Act): Testimony of Frank Krogh, Representing the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and
Urban Affairs, June 11, 2009. http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090611/testimony_krogh.pdf (viewed
April 2, 2010).
153
U.S. Congress, House, Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and
the Internet, Legislative Hearing on H.R. 1147, the Local Community Radio Act of 2009, H.R. 1133, the Family
Telephone Connection Protection Act of 2009, and H.R. 1084, the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act
(CALM Act), Testimony of Sheriff David Goad, president National Sheriffs’ Association, June 11, 2009.
http://www.sheriffs.org/userfiles/File/Congressional%20Testimony/Microsoft_Word__NSA_Sheriff_Goad_Testimony_on_H_R__1133.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
151
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
building of capacity in front of demand.” 154 But CCA officials add that given their thousands of
empty beds they are pausing on the construction front.
There are relatively sparse data on the long-term economic impact of prison development. Some
studies indicate slight economic gains for prison towns, while others suggest that rural areas that
have become prison anchors may have grown less rapidly than similar counties without prisons.
The idea that prisons are “recession proof” is being tested as states close prisons or release
nonviolent offenders to reduce budget gaps caused by a drop in tax revenues. The state efforts
have sparked politically charged debates over both public security and the impact on jobs.
The ongoing effort to transfer internees from the U.S. military facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,
to a U.S. prison illustrates the issues. Several U.S. rural communities with extra prison space and
high unemployment rates expressed interest in taking the detainees to create or preserve jobs. 155
The White House in December 2009 announced the government planned to buy an underused
state prison in Thomson, IL, for a joint facility to be run by the military and the Bureau of
Prisons. The Illinois facility has been largely empty since it was built at a cost of $120 million in
2001, based on projections for an increasing prison population that did not pan out.156 In
announcing its decision, the White House Council of Economic Advisers released a study of the
potential economic impact of the facility on Thomson and surrounding areas.157 The White House
forecast $1.1 billion in additional spending in northern Illinois during the first four years the
facility is operational, including construction, pay, operating costs, spending by visitors to the
prison, and families transferred to the area. The White House predicted the Thomson project
would spur 3,180-3,880 ongoing jobs and 840-910 temporary jobs in its first four years,
increasing local earnings by $793 million to $1.02 billion. Local citizens will be candidates for
about half the jobs, which could reduce the unemployment rate in Carroll County, IL, where the
prison is located, by two percentage points.158
The Thomson facility is unique in some respects. For example, the Department of Defense
expects its activities to increase employment by 1,960 to 2,660 positions by the fourth year, but
expects few direct hires from the local communities. DOD is also expected to spend $40 million
on capital improvements to open the facility and a similar amount of capital improvements in
subsequent years, a higher dollar amount than is usually spent on correctional facility upkeep and
improvements. The Federal Bureau of Prisons anticipates hiring 448 correctional officers and 448
medical personnel, food service workers, and other staff. About half the needed workers are
expected to come from local areas.159 Other studies indicate that many prison jobs are filled from
154
Seeking Alpha, “Corrections Corporation of America Fourth Quarter 2009 Earnings Call Transcript.”
http://seekingalpha.com/article/187861-corrections-corporation-of-america-q4-2009-earnings-call-transcript.
155
National Public Radio, “Michigan Town Weighs Moving Guantanamo Detainees Next Door,” September 1, 2009.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/terrorism/july-dec09/michigan_09-01.html (viewed April 2, 2010).
156
Carton, Tony, “Sparse Attendance at COGFA Marathon Hearing for Thomson Prison Closing,” Prairie Advocate
News, December 30, 2009. http://www.prairie-advocate-news.com/12-30-09/thomsonprison12_30_09.html (viewed
April 2, 2010).
157
Executive Office of the President, Council of Economic Advisers, Technical Memorandum. November 21, 2009, see
http://www.illinois.gov/publicincludes/statehome/gov/documents/
White%20House%20Thomson%20economic%20analysis.pdf (viewed on April 2, 2010); Chicago Sun-Times, “Illinois,
Guantanamo north? White House releases economic impact study,” November 21, 2009.
158
Carton, Tony, “Sparse Attendance at COGFA Marathon Hearing for Thomson Prison Closing,” Prairie Advocate
News, December 30, 2009. http://www.prairie-advocate-news.com/12-30-09/thomsonprison12_30_09.html (Viewed on
April 2, 2010).
159
Council of Economic Advisers, Technical Memorandum. November 21, 2009, http://www.illinois.gov/
(continued...)
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
outside the immediate area, particularly the highest-paying, highest skilled positions. The Federal
Bureau of Prisons requirements that its correctional officers have some higher education or other
outside experience can mean many local residents do not qualify. Further, many prisons centralize
their buying from outside sources, rather than local businesses.
Though many local officials credit prisons with stabilizing their economies, some academic
studies say prisons have a lesser impact than believed, or even retard economic development by
creating a stigma that makes it more difficult to attract other types of investment. A 2007 study by
Pennsylvania State University researchers found that prisons have “had no significant economic
effect on rural places in general, but … may have had a positive impact on poverty rates in
persistently poor rural counties.”160 Overall, however, the study concluded there was not
convincing evidence that the prison development boom resulted in structural economic change in
persistently poor rural places. The study examined prison construction in the United States using
a special data base tracking prison data through 1995. It also examined changes in poverty
populations as well as other indicators of area-wide economic health in localities that had become
prison hosts. A 2004 study by researchers at Washington State University also did not find
evidence that prison expansion stimulated economic development. 161 Instead, the study suggested
that prison construction tamped down growth in rural counties, specifically in counties that were
already growing at a slow rate. In higher-growth counties, the impact was not as pronounced. The
study looked at 3,100 counties in 48 states, assessing the impact of prison development on growth
in earnings, per capita income, and employment.
A 2004 study by Iowa State University researchers examined prisons opened in rural towns
between 1990 and 2000.162 The study looked at 274 new state prisons in 248 small towns, defined
as incorporated places with fewer than 10,000 residents. It compared them to nearly 20,000
similar towns that did not have prisons. The researchers found that small towns that acquired a
state prison during the1990s had higher poverty levels, higher unemployment, lower household
wages and lower housing values than similar towns without a prison.
(...continued)
publicincludes/statehome/gov/documents/White%20House%20Thomson%20economic%20analysis.pdf.
160
Glasmeier, Amy K. and Tracey Farrigan, “The Economic Impacts of the Prison Development Boom on Persistently
Poor Rural Places,” International Regional Science Review, Vol. 30, No. 3 (2007), p. 1. A version of this paper is
available at http://www.povertyinamerica.psu.edu/products/publications/prison_development/prison_development.pdf
(Viewed on April 2, 2010).
161
Hooks, Gregory, Clayton Mosher, Thomas Totolo and Linda Lobao, “The Prison Industry: Carceral Expansion and
Employment in U.S. Counties, 1969-1994,” Social Science Quarterly, Vol. 85, No. 1, 2004. pp. 37-57.
162
Besser, Terry L. and Margaret M. Hanson. “Development of Last Resort: The Impact of New State Prisons on Small
Town Economies in the United States,” Community Development, vol. 35, Issue 2, (2004). pp. 1-16.
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
Prisons as Drivers of Economic Development
Although there is a significant debate about the costs and benefits of prisons to local economies,
the examples of two small towns, Shelby and Hardin, in Montana illustrate the possibilities and
perils of prisons as an economic development tool.
Shelby, MT
Shelby, located in Toole County (population 3,541), Montana, in the northern part of the state, is
host to a 660-bed maximum security prison, the Crossroads Correctional Center, which was
financed, built, and operated by CCA.
Every five years, Shelby city officials publish a review of the economic impacts of the
institution.163 According to the most recent review, covering a period through 2008, the prison
employs 181 people from Shelby and the surrounding area. It generates $100,000 to $150,000 in
annual billings for the local medical center, which serves the prison population and people who
moved to the area to work at the prison. The prison buys only 5% of its supplies from local Toole
County, though it contracts for another 75% from Montana-based businesses. Property values in
the county have increased, in contrast to other rural Montana communities which have shown
significant declines. It is not possible to say whether the improvement is due to the prison or other
factors, such as energy-related development in the area.
The prison has created some strains, including an increase in the number of cases heard at the
courthouse. The local police force has had to devote about 1,320 hours from 2005 through 2008
on prison-related work, such as investigating in-prison assaults and serving warrants or civil court
summons. There have been fights and gang activity at the prison and, in 2008, CCA had a
national security company bring employees in from out of state to fill jobs at the prison.164 But
officials say the costs are more than balanced by the nearly $500,000 in annual property taxes
paid by the prison, and Shelby Mayor Larry Bonderud said the town continues to attract business
and has experienced no stigma from the maximum-security facility. Mayor Bonderud said he
preferred the higher security institution, in part because it requires higher staffing levels and
therefore more local jobs.165
Hardin, MT
The story is much different in Hardin (pop 3,600) in the southeastern part of the state. The Hardin
facility, a speculative prison, has stood vacant since it was completed in 2007, forcing a technical
default on $27.4 million in revenue bonds. 166
163
City of Shelby, Montana, Corrections at the Crossroads, 5-Year Analysis, 10-Year Analysis, Crossroads
Correctional Center, at http://www.shelbymt.com/Brownsfield/CCC%20Analysis.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
164
Johnson, Peter, “Supporters want Shelby prison in running for expansion,” Great Falls Tribune, September 14,
2009.
165
Telephone interview with Larry Bonderud, Mayor, Shelby, MT, February 1, 2010.
166
Telephone interview with Jeffrey S. McDowell, Executive Director, Hardin Two Rivers Port Authority, January 27,
2010.
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
According to an audit prepared for the Montana Legislature, the Two Rivers Regional Authority
(a port authority created by Hardin for economic development) in 2006 entered into a deal with
the Municipal Capital Markets Group, Herbert J. Sims & Co., a construction firm, and other
businesses to use the proceeds from $27 million in bonds to build the prison (which cost about
$19 million), create a debt reserve, and pay other expenses. Fees for housing prisoners were to be
used to pay off facility and operating costs. (The price tag included a $1.6 million fee for
arranging the financing). The memorandum noted that a feasibility study prepared by an outside
group for the project contained assumptions “that appear to be unfounded.” The audit further
noted that the companies that worked with Hardin officials had proposed and built other facilities
in other states that had run into financial problems. 167
Rather than spurring development in the small town, the empty prison is impeding efforts by Two
Rivers officials to attract new business to the area. The economic development entity’s ability to
raise money is clouded by the outstanding bonds. Negative press about the prison has created a
sense of notoriety about Hardin.168
Challenges for Policymakers
There is growing unease among public officials that the U.S. correctional system is too
expensive, too punitive, and too large. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, in a speech
in California, criticized the state’s three strikes laws, noting that U.S. sentences were much longer
than in other countries. 169 Missouri Chief Justice William Ray Price, in an address to that state’s
legislature in February 2010, said Missouri could not afford to continue incarcerating so many
nonviolent offenders.
We are following a broken strategy of cramming inmates into prisons and not providing the
type of drug treatment and job training that is necessary to break their cycle of crime. Any
normal business would have abandoned this failed practice years ago, and it is costing us our
shirts.170
In Congress, the growth of the prison system and more recent tension about costs and
effectiveness, have given rise to a number of initiatives. The Congressional efforts range from
broad efforts to examine the correctional system, to more targeted bills aimed a specific issues
such as the cost of inmate telephone service, as well as efforts to monitor inmate
communications.
In Congress, the Senate Judiciary Committee favorably ordered to be reported with an
amendment in the nature of a substitute the National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009
(S. 714), which would establish a commission to (1) review all areas of federal and state criminal
167
Montana, Legislative Audit Division, Two Rivers Regional Detention Center in Hardin, Montana, Memorandum,
November 27, 2007. http://www.cor.mt.gov/content/Resources/CorAdvCouncil/Archive/February2008/
AuditorReport.pdf (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
168
Telephone interview with Jeffrey S. McDowell, Executive Director, Hardin Two Rivers Port Authority, January 27,
2010.
169
Williams, Carol J., “Justice Kennedy laments the state of prisons in California, U.S.,” Los Angeles Times, February
4, 2010, see http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/04/local/la-me-kennedy4-2010feb04 (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
170
Kansas City Star, “Judge Price Delivers State of the Judiciary Address.” http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/
21240 (viewed on April 2, 2010).
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Economic Impacts of Prison Growth
justice costs, practices, and policies; (2) make specified findings relating to incarceration, prison
administration, the impact of gang activity, drug policy, mental illness among prisoners and the
role of the military in crime prevention; (3) make recommendations for changes in policies and
laws to address findings; (4) consult with government and nongovernmental leaders, including
state and local law enforcement officials; and (5) submit a final report to Congress and the
President and make such report public.
In the House, the Family Telephone Connection Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 1133) was
introduced on February 23, 2010, and referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce. The
bill, if enacted into law, would amend the Communications Act of 1934 to direct the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) to consider the following types of regulation of inmate
telephone service: (1) prescribing a maximum uniform per-minute rate (paid to telephone service
providers); (2) prescribing a maximum uniform service connection or other per-call rate; (3)
prescribing variable maximum rates depending on factors such as carrier costs or the size of the
correctional facility; (4) requiring providers of inmate telephone service to offer both collect
calling and debit account services; (5) prohibiting the payment of commissions by such providers
to administrators of correctional facilities; and (6) requiring such administrators to allow more
than one service provider at a facility so that prisoners have a choice. As of April 2, 2010, the bill
had not been reported out of committee, although a hearing has been held at subcommittee level.
Another bill, the Safe Prisons Communications Act of 2009 (H.R. 560), was introduced on
January 15, 2009. The bill, which was referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee
and the House Judiciary Committee, would amend the Communications Act of 1934 to authorize
the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons or the chief executive officer of a state to petition the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to permit the installation of devices to prevent, jam,
or interfere with wireless communications within the geographic boundaries of a specific prison,
penitentiary, or correctional facility under his or her jurisdiction.
The Criminal Justice Reinvestment Act of 2009 (H.R. 4080/S. 2772) would authorize the
Attorney General to make grants to states, local governments, territories, or Indian tribes to: (1)
analyze and improve the cost-effectiveness of state and local spending on prisons, jails, and
community corrections; and (2) assist in managing the growth in spending on corrections and
increase public safety. Both bills were introduced on November 16, 2009. S. 2772 was referred to
the Judiciary Committee. On March 11, 2010, the bill was ordered to be reported favorably with
an amendment in the nature of a substitute. On March 22, 2010, the bill was so reported as the
Criminal Justice Reinvestment Act of 2010 and placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar. The
House has not taken action on the bill.
State legislatures, during their 2010 sessions, are poised to debate proposals to reduce the size and
cost of the corrections system, responding in large part to major budget shortfalls. In addition to
spending cuts and layoffs approved in 2009, 13 states commissioned task forces or studies related
to sentencing and supervision and legislatures this year could act on their recommendations.171
New York has rolled back its three strikes law. Congress as part of the FY2010 appropriations
instructed a federal panel that advises the judiciary to review mandatory sentencing policies. 172
171
National Conference of State Legislatures, Significant State Sentencing and Corrections Legislation in 2009,
January 19, 2010. http://www.ncsl.org/?TabId=19122 (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
172
Fields, Gary, “U.S. Commission to Assess Mandatory Sentences,” Wall Street Journal, November 12, 2009.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125798793160144461.html (Viewed on April 2, 2010).
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As states expanding their use of strategies such as early release for nonviolent offenders and
greater use of probation and parole, several have been able to realize large reductions in their
prison populations. Still, the prison population remains historically high and it is not clear how
far-reaching any changes will be. The Vera Institute on Justice points out that budget pressures
have also forced reductions in some state programs to reduce recidivism. 173 The Oregon House
recently voted to suspend an early release program for inmates until mid-2011, after complaints
that some prisoners incarcerated for violent crimes had been released. 174 In Michigan, Gov.
Jennifer Granholm also faces a fight over her plan to further reduce the size of the state prison
population.
The federal prison system is still expanding. Private prison companies are anticipating that key
states and the federal government will continue to need more prison beds than they can build—
and will rely on private firms that have available space and can secure their own financing, thus
avoiding thorny financing debates. CCA President and CEO Damon Hininger, in a February
conference call, noted that states had “done a little tinkering around the edges” of the prison
system. 175
Wholesale changes in policy, we haven’t seen a lot of activity,” Hininger said, adding that
while California was talking about new initiatives regarding probation and parole, so far
there was not much real activity. “But that …potentially would be a risk and something we’ll
monitor in the short-term, Hininger said.
Though states initially took the lead in efforts to reduce prison spending and incarceration rates,
Congress appears poised to assume a larger role. U.S. lawmakers have provided funding for state
efforts to reduce recidivism and experiment with alternatives to incarceration. Some members of
Congress are scrutinizing federal prison financing and sentencing laws. The scope of further
changes will depend on several factors, including the effectiveness of emerging state policies and
the health of the economy, which has a direct bearing on federal and state budgets. State and
federal decisions, in turn, will likely have wide repercussions, including potential financial
impacts on the large and growing number of private companies that serve the prison sector.
Author Contact Information
Suzanne M. Kirchhoff
Analyst in Industrial Organization and Business
skirchhoff@crs.loc.gov, 7-0658
173
Scott-Hayward, Christine, The Fiscal Crisis in Corrections, Rethinking Policies and Practices, Vera Institute of
Justice, July 2009, p. 2 http://www.vera.org/files/The-fiscal-crisis-in-corrections_July-2009.pdf.
174
Gustafson, Alan, “House Votes to Suspend Early Release, Salem Statesman Journal, February 17, 2010,
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20100217/LEGISLATURE/2170439/1042.
175
Seeking Alpha, “Corrections Corporation of America Q4 2009 Earnings Call Transcript, February 10, 2010,
http://seekingalpha.com/article/187861-corrections-corporation-of-america-q4-2009-earnings-call-transcript (Viewed
on April 2, 2010).
Congressional Research Service
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This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.