Privatization, whether of public transportation or public libraries, always comes with costs that the privatizers deny when they're lobbying to get the deed done. You know, little things like fewer routes and reduced schedules and smaller, lower-paid staffs accompanied by higher fares and fees. No surprise that the politicians in the pocket of the privatizers go along. But others, who should know better, frequently succumb as well to the siren call of we-can-take-this-expensive-burden-off-your-hands-and-it-will-end-your-budget-problems-forever. And then comes the screw job.
Nowhere except in the military is privatization a worse idea than in prisons. Abuse is rife and inhumane conditions, including overcrowding, are common. So are escapes. The corporations that build private prisons suck up development subsidies. And they go after small towns desperate for jobs.
But, hey! they save money, right? So we should just turn a blind eye to all the problems (easy for me to say) and bolster stressed-out state budgets. Which, these days, is just about all of them.
Just one problem. Private prisons don't save money. The latest recognition of that fact comes from the Department of Corrections in Arizona, a state the private prison industry has embraced the way a preying mantis embraces her lover:
There’s a perception that the private sector is always going to do it more efficiently and less costly,” said Russ Van Vleet, a former co-director of the University of Utah Criminal Justice Center. “But there really isn’t much out there that says that’s correct.”
Such has been the case lately in Arizona. Despite a state law stipulating that private prisons must create “cost savings,” the state’s own data indicate that inmates in private prisons can cost as much as $1,600 more per year, while many cost about the same as they do in state-run prisons.
The research, by the Arizona Department of Corrections, also reveals a murky aspect of private prisons that helps them appear less expensive: They often house only relatively healthy inmates.
“It’s cherry-picking,” said State Representative Chad Campbell, leader of the House Democrats. “They leave the most expensive prisoners with taxpayers and take the easy prisoners.”
It's the same old, same old story when it comes to privatization. Promise the moon, then take all the cheese.