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Strapped States Are Bullish For Private Prisons

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

Strapped States Are Bullish For Private Prisons Frobes Andy Obermueller 03.18.10 I just stumbled upon some interesting data from the federal government: The average wage of the 15.2 million employees in California, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, is $48,090. That comes out to about $23.12 an hour. Very low on the scale are private security guards, who earn an average of $25,950. Bailiffs earn just under $49,000. Yet relatively high on the scale are state prison guards, who can, with overtime, easily earn more than $100,000 a year. By contrast, a kindergarten teacher in the Golden State can expect to pull down an average of $56,540. If you think that's odd, try this statistic on for size: Fully 9.5% of the California state budget is allocated toward prisons...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on March 19, 2010 (boomark / email).