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AZ: Are private prisons worth the cost?

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

Are private prisons worth the cost? By Suzy Khimm Well before passing Arizona's controversial immigration law, Arizona lawmakers were treating the state as a laboratory of sorts for the criminal justice system. Last year, state legislators passed a bill that would have privatized almost all of Arizona's correctional system for $100 million upfront -- an unprecedented move by a state government. The main argument was economic, as private operators claimed they could run more cost-efficient facilities, which supporters said would help close a billion-dollar budget gap in Phoenix. The bill wasn't ultimately signed into law, but Arizona has still put a growing number of inmates into private prisons each year, who now account for 20 percent of the state's prison population...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on August 24, 2010 (boomark / email).