TY - JOUR
T1 - Are private prisons more cost-effective than public prisons? A meta-analysis of evaluation research studies
AU - Pratt, Travis C.
AU - Maahs, Jeff
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 1999
Y1 - 1999
N2 - The need to reduce the costs of incarceration to state and federal correctional agencies has allowed the movement to privatize correctional institutions to gain considerable momentum. The empirical evidence regarding whether private prisons are more cost-effective than public institutions, however, is inconclusive. To address this question, a meta-analysis was conducted of 33 cost-effectiveness evaluations of private and public prisons from 24 independent studies. The results revealed that private prisons were no more cost-effective than public prisons, and that other institutional characteristics-such as the facility's economy of scale, age, and security level - were the strongest predictors of a prison's daily per diem cost.
AB - The need to reduce the costs of incarceration to state and federal correctional agencies has allowed the movement to privatize correctional institutions to gain considerable momentum. The empirical evidence regarding whether private prisons are more cost-effective than public institutions, however, is inconclusive. To address this question, a meta-analysis was conducted of 33 cost-effectiveness evaluations of private and public prisons from 24 independent studies. The results revealed that private prisons were no more cost-effective than public prisons, and that other institutional characteristics-such as the facility's economy of scale, age, and security level - were the strongest predictors of a prison's daily per diem cost.
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U2 - 10.1177/0011128799045003004
DO - 10.1177/0011128799045003004
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:22644452691
SN - 0011-1287
VL - 45
SP - 358
EP - 371
JO - Crime and Delinquency
JF - Crime and Delinquency
IS - 3
ER -