How much does a prison cost?

[Sky Walker]

How much does it cost to build a prison in the U.K? Do the government pay for these prisons with the taxpayers money?

It says on wiki "In 2004, each prisoner cost the taxpayer an average of £38,000." does anyone know how much that has increased, if it has?

What is the prison system like in your country, costs, inmate numbers, privatisation or anything you deem relavent?

Cheers.

[Sky Walker]

Swim found this;

"New prisons cost between £100,000 and £125,000 per place to build."

http://www.crimeinfo.org.uk/topicofthemonth/index.jsp

Surely a prison costs more than that, what exactly does the "per place" bit mean? It can't mean per cell.

[stoneinfocus]

.. per inmate, that might be true... plus the costs for incaceration, like personel, logistics, etc .... swim´s heard on month costs about 2000-2500 pounds / month / inmate

[Sky Walker]

The cost per inmate is an average of £36-£38000 a year. Maybe it is per cell, meaning the average prison would cost between £55.1 to £68.88 million. Wow that's alot.

[Trebor]

And loko at what the majority of inmates are in for. Drug possesion. It's like in System of a Down's "Deer Dance".

[Nagognog2]

In the Untied Snakes, it costs approx. $22,000 per year to house one inmate.

[emineo]

Not trying to hijack your thread as this info relates to the US prison system, but it definitely shows a precedent for what -could- occur in other countries with more relaxed drug laws at the moment.

Here is something that many of the Euro crowd will probably find appalling, and something many Americans are not aware of either:

http://www.tci.tdcj.state.tx.us/

There is a "Correctional Industries" site for 36 out of 50 states in the US, with plans for other states to follow suit. These are products produced wholly, or in part, by prisoners.

Now consider this little piece of reporting:

In 2000, police made 1,579,566 total arrests for drug abuse violations. 81%—or 1,279,448—of these total drug arrests were for possession. 46.5%—or 734,497 of all drug arrests—were for marijuana offenses. And of the total marijuana arrests, 646,042 (88%) were for possession alone.

Sources: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reports for the United States 2000 (Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 2001), pp. 215-216, Tables 29 and 4.1.

The United States is the world leader in rate of incarceration. As of June 30, 2001 there were 1,965,495 inmates held in federal and state prisons and local jails, with an incarceration rate of 690 persons per 100,000. This places the U.S. ahead of second-place Russia (676 per 100,000) as the world leader in incarceration, both by rate and in absolute terms. Most nations in western Europe incarcerate their citizens at a rate ranging from 60-130 per 100,000.

Sources: The Sentencing Project analysis of the US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics study, Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2001.

Prisoners sentenced for drug offenses constitute the largest group of Federal inmates (61%) in 1999, up from 53% in 1990. On September 30, 1999, Federal prisons held 63,360 sentenced drug offenders, compared to 30,470 at yearend 1990.

Source: Beck, Allen J., PhD, US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 1999 (Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, August 2000), p. 12 and Table 21.

Over 80% of the increase in the federal prison population from 1985 to 1995 was due to drug convictions.

Source:US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 1996 (Washington DC: US Department of Justice, 1997).

In 1997, there were 55,069 drug offenders in federal prisons (out of a total Federal prison population of 88,018 that year). Of these, 10,094 were in for possession, 40,053 were in for trafficking, and 4,922 were in for other drug crimes.

Source:Mumola, Christopher J., "Substance Abuse and Treatment, State and Federal Prisoners, 1997" (Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice, January 1999), p. 3, Table 1.

Nonviolent offenders accounted for eighty-four percent (84%) of the increase in state and federal prison admissions since 1980.

Source:Ambrosio, T. & Schiraldi, V., Executive Summary-February 1997 (Washington DC: The Justice Policy Institute, 1997).

So it follows that more strict drug laws only enable a very lucrative industry via prison labor.

In a time when immigrant labor in the US is a hot button issue, we have what amounts to forced labor which no one is talking about. Of course the prisoners have a choice: work for 21 cents an hour, or don't

When the alternative is no money, and little to no activities, what would you "choose"? Some choice right?

I'm not making this argument for violent criminals, as the data should show. However, drug convictions based on possession is just about a violation of civil liberties. Those are the people this argument is meant to support.

Prison labor is not an altogether bad thing, but when the profits of such rest on possession convictions it's ridiculous and transparent.

If you're a US voter, please read some articles on Dennis Kucinich or Bill Richardson; both candidates for President currently coming in 3rd and 4th in Democratic Party polls and are both pro-reform.

[Sky Walker]

Originally Posted by emineo

Not trying to hijack your thread as this info relates to the US prison system, but it definitely shows a precedent for what -could- occur in other countries with more relaxed drug laws at the moment.

Hijack away, the question was too pointed and should have covered the prisons all around the world anyway, more responses and more info is only a good thing.

How much is a prison in your country?

How many prisons are in your country?
The U.K has 158 prisons with only 3 in Northern Ireland.