| This dissertation compares three privately operated prisons with three publicly operated prisons to determine whether privately operated prisons are run more efficiently. Also, interviews were conducted with prison officials and other prison personnel during on-site reviews to determine their views on barriers that exist to entering the private prison market. In addition, factors are identified which have contributed to the current concern with privatization as a means of contracting out for the management of prisons.;Through a comparative cost analysis of private and public prisons it was found that the private prisons studied provided more services at lower cost than their publicly operated counterparts. Factors that may have contributed to this include: increased economies when purchasing goods, less bureaucratic red tape, better control over resources, more flexible manpower usage and the ability to build prisons quickly.;Although private prison costs were found to be lower, interviews with private and public prison officials identified a number of political, administrative, financial, legal/constitutional and social issues that may be barriers to the entrance of firms into the private prison market. Consequently, the author finds that growing efforts by prison officials to privatize prison services, the results of this study's comparative cost analysis, and future research on the privatization of prisons may support the argument by proponents of prison privatization that private operation of prisons is a worthwhile alternative that should be considered by government jurisdiction. |
