GEORGE WYTHE REVIEW
Idaho conducted an investigation into a particularly violent private prison in 2012 and discovered that CoreCivic, the company in charge of the prison, had understaffed its facility by thirteen officers—the equivalent of 26,000 man-hours (In the Public Interest, 2016, p. 6). In Mississippi, a state that has suffered an inordinate number of lockdowns and security-related incidents in its private prisons, discovered that the GEO Group had understaffed at least both a youth correctional facility and a regular correctional facility by several officers (In the Public Interest, 2016, p. 6). The discovery of these violations, however, is not indicative of an eradication of issues in private correctional facilities. Both CoreCivic and the GEO Group have been identified as understaffing prisons that led to violent behavior. These two organizations own most of the contract facilities in the United States, associating both with the DOJ and the DHS (Duprey, 2021).
Per Diem Rates A significant reason for this understaffing and violence could very well be the per diem rates that contract prisons receive. Since prisons receive more money for each prisoner they hold, they have an incentive to either gain new inmates or maintain existing inmates. For example, prisons in Arizona have a per diem rate of $69.57, which was set by the Bureau in charge of their operations (Arizona Procurement Portal, 2021). As Pfaff observes concerning the deleterious nature of per diem incentives in Arizona and in general, “Even worse, a per diem encourages them to cut programming and training and staffing, since the only way to make a profit is to push costs below what the per diems bring in” (2021, pg. 995-996). This seemingly nebulous claim is supported by empirical research, which indicates that on average, private prisons hire one correctional officer for every 6.9 prisoners, as opposed to one for every 4.9 inmates in public prisons (Mumford et al., 2016).
Disadvantages & Mismanagement While it would seem reasonable to assume that fewer officers entails higher quality programs or lower overall costs for private prisons, neither has been found to be true. Studies in Ohio and Arizona specifically, as well as nationwide studies, have found the short term cost advantages for private prisons to be minimal or absent altogether (Gotsch & Basti, 2018). In the long term, private prisons appear to be more costly (Mamun et al., 2020). In addition, as organizations cut corners, violence rates and recidivism rates both rise (Tartaglia, 2014). The National Council on Crime & Delinquency sponsored a study that sums up the relationship between these negative variables and ties them to problems with the creation and execution process of contracts with private prisons. In examining multiple state and federal facilities, it concludes, Fall 2021 • 61