In an effort to reduce costs for cash-strapped states, many have “privatized their prisons.”  On paper, it looked good at one time.  The state could not only get out of the business of housing, feeding, securing, and taking care of prisoners, but they could also save money.   Costs to the state would plummet.  In fact, the costs have not gone down–for many people.

I posted before about Louisiana and how their private prisons have ended up costing them more than they expected–partly do to the fact that many of the local politicians have become the entrepreneurs of the private private prisons.  Louisiana now has the highest prison population in the country.  (Maybe the world!!)

The New York Times recently covered the problem that New Jersey is facing.  As is common across the country, state legislatures have gotten “tough on crime” with the result that their prisons are now packed beyond capacity and the costs to the states has ballooned out of control.  New Jersey became a national model by diverting thousands of prisoners to half-way houses.  The system has deep roots in the political parties including the governor, Chris Christie.

The state allowed private companies to build the half-way houses.  Some are as big as prisons with several hundred beds.  While New Jersey bragged about their “innovative” plans, the reality was that hundreds of people are escaping from them.  They became a shadow corrections problem where drugs, gang activity, and violence thrived.  Since 2005, roughly 5,100 prisoners have escaped from these half-way houses.  Some used slightly sophisticated means such as putting dummies in their beds, but many simply walked away like fish being release into the big ocean.

That’s because the security is lax and the institutions lack authority to restrain those who try to leave or go look for those who escape.  Can you imagine the temptation for a prisoner, released from a secured prison setting, placed into the half-way house to take off?  I’m surprised that more haven’t escaped.

There are close links between some of the top politicians in New Jersey, including the governor, to the main company that has built and runs these half-way houses.

Why the problem?

I think it goes back to the basic difference between the goals of the government relative to prisoners and the goals of a private company.  The state’s goal is to secure the most dangerous criminals from getting out while rehabilitating lesser offenders so they can be released safely and become contributing, law-abiding citizens.  Private half-way houses have the goal of making a profit.  consequently, they will cut costs to the point of not providing adequate security or staff to stop the runners.  As those escape, the company can count on the state releasing hundreds more from the prisons to replace the missing criminals.

It’s an example of people with good intentions to reduce costs, ending up adding to the costs of finding the escapees before they cause more crime–and those costs–to all of us.