Okay, comparative cost time:
The state of California spends 35 percent of its budget, or nearly $50 billion, on its 900,000 students in K-12 education.
Even after all the budget cuts made this past year or two, California spends 11 percent of its budget, or $8.6 billion, on state prisons in order to house approximately 166,000 prisoners. That’s $52,363 per prisoner per year.
And we spend 5 percent of our state budget on higher education —not even half our prison bill.
Sacramento’s CBS affiliate, KBET, has a tidy little report in which it looks at the newest versions of all these depressing numbers.
In the course of the report, the KBET folks played my favorite teeth gnashing game, which is to compare the yearly price tag of keeping someone in an overcrowded lock-up, with the cost of sending a student to a top university, including tuition room and board.
Here’s what they found:
Compare the cost of housing a prison inmate in California–$52,363 —to room, board, and tuition for one year at a college or university. Some examples:
Stanford: $50,576
University of Pacific: $42,346
Sacramento State University: $14,916
University of Davis, California: $25,580
Of course, at the end of a nice four years at, say, the California Institute for Men at Chino, an inmate will have $200 “gate money,” and little or nothing in the way of new job or academic or skills, and his or her psychological health is likely to be worse, not better.
While at the end of four years at Stanford University, a student will have……well, a degree from Stanford—-plus, one hopes and assumes, a list of new skills and capabilities.
So why do prisons cost so much? It ain’t the amenities, folks. Guys in prison aren’t given adequate soap much less anything truly useful.
KBET reports that 35 percent of the per-year cost goes to staff, and 50 percent goes to “operations.”
(Interestingly, California inmates who were shipped out-of-state to facilities in places like Mississippi in order to relieve overcrowding here, said they liked the out-of-state facilities much better—even though those states spend less per inmate per year. I leave you to draw your own conclusions about those seemingly discrepant facts.)
Sadly, in a brand new display of penny-wise-and-pound-foolishness, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has just proposed cutting another $250 million out of neither staff nor operations costs but, instead out of the rehabilitation and educational programs budget. So whatever programs were in existence that might have helped a man or woman stay out of prison upon release, are about to be vaporized.
But, hey, that’s much easier than delving into the CCPOA’s overtime figures. (Regular readers will know by now that the CCPOA refers to the correctional officers’ union.)
Anyway, I thought you’d all want to be kept up to date on these cheery stats.
Aren’t you glad we had this little chat?
“operations” = private contractors.
SNS, Exactly. I was just thinking today that I’d love to have some journalism students spend a full semester doing a series researching some of these private contractors.
Merely looking into the profits made by companies that are permitted to send family-paid “packages” to prisoners would make a great article that I would very much like to read.
Did you see Michael Moore’s “Capitalism”, Celeste? There’s a privately run juvi hall in Pennsylvania, I think, that had a judge in their pocket. He was sentencing kids there, who were first time offenders, for stealing candy bars (offenses that would normally warrant something like a fine, or maybe a day of work project…). One girl was sent up for something like arguing with her mother, forget what it was but it was frivolous. It’s just the tip of the iceberg. They’re just the ones who got caught.
Nope. Still haven’t seen the movie. But I did post about that judge way back when. Amazing and horrifying story.
Can you say “Prison Industrial Complex”?
I don’t think there’s a prison industrial complex, WTF. I think this judge just has moral values. He’s trying to teach children things their parents failed to. As far as him getting money from the private contractors, well, America is a capitalist country. What’s wrong with him achieving financial success while teaching children a hard lesson on crime and punishment in America? In fact, I think you have more of a liberal industrial complex than anything. I think the liberal media just focuses on the connection between the law and private prison owners because they’re jealous of their profits. Liberals want handouts. The prison industry works for its money. Somebody has to get 14 year olds who miss curfew by a half hour off the streets.
Celeste/ Sadly, in a brand new display of penny-wise-and-pound-foolishness, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has just proposed cutting another $250 million out of neither staff nor operations costs but, instead out of the rehabilitation and educational programs budget. So whatever programs were in existence that might have helped a man or woman stay out of prison upon release, are about to be vaporized.
Where would you cut staff and operations Celeste?
I’d cut the wages of the prison guards. I’m a union guy and will always support unions when they hold the line for a living wage. But what they’re making is ridiculous. Their conduct is also questionable. Did you see the MSNBC lockup in San Quintin where the guards were showing off how much gang slang they knew? They were proud of it. Sometimes I wonder if a lot of guys from the hood went to law enforcement as sort of a plan b to being tough guys. They weren’t cut out for the gang life, so being a cop is the next toughest thing in their view.
It appears that we spend $12,442 per prisoner per year for medical care.
Medical care ———- $8,768
Psychiatric services — 1,928
Pharmaceuticals ——— 998
Dental care ————- 748
Lets see, for a family of four that would be $49,768 per year for medical alone. Is this how Obamacare will work?
This does not include security which is $19,663 per year.
http://www.lao.ca.gov/laoapp/laomenus/sections/crim_justice/6_cj_inmatecost.aspx?catid=3
Sorry, Yekop is Pokey spelled backwords.
Since medical care for the California prisons is still in Federal receivership, I’m guessing that the $12,442 is one more case of a bunch of venders making quite a bit of money off our state taxes, with little of it getting to the inmates.
On the other hand, since we insist on locking everyone up for as long as we possibly can, whether they’re dangerous or not, with every year that passes, we’ve got more and more very old, sick prisoners who cost us a pile of money. So when you average that out….
However, what all that would have to do with national healthcare reform is beyond me.
I always bring up the prisons when someone calls California a liberal state. Really? When we practically give our prisons an open checkbook? That doesn’t sound too liberal. The people of California have made it clear election after election: They are willing to go bankrupt putting people away. There are totalitarian dictatorships in the world that envy California’s prison system.
Thanks for exposing the truth and empowering others with the facts!
“It appears that we spend $12,442 per prisoner per year for medical care.”
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Do the prisoners feel any pain with all the illegal drugs used in prison? I heard the majority of Mexican Mafia members are heroin addicts.
I don’t understand that, WTF.
Our biggest, nastiest and most dangerous thugs are in state prisons. To deal with them on a daily basis should be reson enough for the pay and beni’s guards get.
For further on prisoner health care.
http://universityofcalifornia.edu/sites/uchealth/2010/01/22/prison-health-care-in-california/
People who work retail jobs in high crime areas have to deal with the biggest, nastiest, and most dangerous thugs in society. Shouldn’t they be paid what prison guards are paid? They’re just as vulnerable. Even more so, considering they only have a handful of people, most of them having never been trained in any kind of self defense, to help them out if a problem occurred.
I recently came across an interesting quote from the Massachusetts Department of Corrections (this quote was made sometime in 1960’s I think). The quote is: “If a man is returned to society more embittered, vengeful, demoralized and incapable of social and economic survival than when he first came to prison, then we certainly…have failed to protect society.”
That pretty much says it all.