Cell-Out Arizona Exclusive: Documents Show Arizona Officials Knew Private Prisons Weren’t Saving Mon

Source: Tucson Citizen {tucsoncitizen.com}

Documents recently obtained by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
show that the state of Arizona deliberately circumvented and ultimately repealed
a state law requiring private for-profit prison corporations to demonstrate cost
savings in their bids on new prison contracts. These records reveal that the state
was aware that existing private prison contracts were not saving the state
money–despite state laws requiring private prison contractors to deliver such savings.

<snip>

For the past six years, these reports have consistently found that private prisons
are not saving the state money, and in many cases, the private beds cost more
than equivalent public beds. In fact, an AFSC analysis of ADC Per Capita Cost Reports
revealed that between 2008-2010, Arizona overpaid for its private prison beds by $10 million.

<snip>

In the 2012 legislative session, the Criminal Justice Budget Reconciliation Act (CJBRA)
repealed the sentence in the statute referring to the standard cost comparison model.

But they didn’t stop there. The bill also repealed a requirement for the state to conduct
a quality comparison assessment of public and private prisons.



Read more: http://tucsoncitizen.com/cell-out-arizona/2012/07/24/cell-out-arizona-exclusive-documents-show-arizona-officials-knew-private-prisons-werent-saving-money/