Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T11:58:13.587Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Determinants of the Costs of Operating Large-Scale Prisons with Implications for the Cost of Correctional Standards

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

William N. Trumbull  and
Ann D. Witte
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This paper explores the determinants of the costs of prisons. An economic model relates cost to output, input prices, and a number of variables controlling for differences in the type of outputs and inputs for each prison. Data from the federal prison system are used to estimate the model. Our results indicate that a minimum-cost prison would be quite large (1,000 to 1,600 inmates) and that the improvement of some correctional standards (e.g., single-bed cells, more living space) may serve to decrease rather than increase prison operating costs.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , 1982 , pp. 115 - 137
Copyright
Copyright © 1982 The Law and Society Association.

Footnotes

*

This paper is a revised version of Chapter 14 of the final report to NILECJ on Grant Number 78-NI-AX-0059 awarded by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, U.S. Department of Justice, under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, as amended. Points of view or opinions stated in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. We would like to thank William McGuire and Federal Bureau of Prison staff for aid in data collection, Jeffrey Bass for data preparation, and Pam Reid for aid in computer work. All errors are, of course, the authors' alone.

References

References

BLOCK, Michael K. and Thomas S., ULEN (1979) “Cost Functions for Correctional Institutions,” in Gray, Charles M. (ed.), The Costs of Crime. Beverly Hills: Sage.Google Scholar
BLUMSTEIN, Alfred (1975) “A Model to Aid in Planning for the Total Criminal Justice System,” in Oberlander, L. (ed.), Quantitative Tools for Criminal Justice Planning. Washington, D.C.: Law Enforcement Assistance Administration.Google Scholar
BLUMSTEIN, Alfred and Richard, LARSON (1970) Models of a Total Criminal Justice System. Washington, D.C.: Institute for Defense Analysis.Google Scholar
BRIER, Stephen S. and Stephen E., FIENBERG (1980) “Recent Econometric Modeling of Crime and Punishment: Support for the Deterrence Hypothesis?” 4 Evaluation Review 147.Google Scholar
CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF CPRRECTIONS (1978) Program Planning Report. 4 Vols. Sacramento, California: Report Prepared at the Request of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee of the California State Legislature.Google Scholar
CENTER FOR STUDIES IN CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL LAW (1978) “National Survey of Crime Severity: First National Level Geometric Means and Ratio Scores by Offense Stimuli Item.” Working paper, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.Google Scholar
COHEN, Jacqueline (1978) “The Incapacitative Effect of Imprisonment: A Critical Review of the Literature,” in Blumstein, A., Cohen, J., and Nagin, D. (eds.), Deterrence and Incapacitation: Estimating the Effect of Criminal Sanctions on Crime Rates. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
COOK, Philip (1977) “Punishment and Crime: A Critique of Current Findings Concerning the Preventive Effects of Punishment,” 41 Law and Contemporary Problems 164.Google Scholar
COMMISSION ON ACCREDITATION FOR CORRECTION (1977) Manual of Standards for Adult Correctional Institutions, Rockville, MD.: American Correctional Association.Google Scholar
COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES (1976) Federal Prison Construction Plans Should Be Better Developed and Supported. Washington, D.C.: General Accounting Office.Google Scholar
DuCOTE, Daniel C. (1977) “James vs. Wallace: Minimum Constitutional Standards for Living Conditions in Prisons,” 29 Baylor Law Review 180.Google Scholar
FELDBERG, Michael S. (1977) “Confronting the Conditions of Confinement: An Expanded Role for Courts in Prison Reform,” 12 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 367.Google Scholar
FERGUSON, Charles E. and John P., GOULD (1975) Microeconomic Theory. Homewood: Irwin.Google Scholar
FINKELSTEIN, Michael O. (1978) Quantitative Methods in Law: Studies in the Application of Mathematical Probability and Statistics to Legal Problems. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
HAAS, Kenneth C. (1977) “Judicial Politics and Correctional Reform: An Analysis of the Decline of the ‘Hands-Off’ Doctrine,” Detroit College of Law Review 795.Google Scholar
HANN, Robert G., BAILEY, John S., and J., HASSAN (1975) Offender Prediction System: Overview: FCSM, Introduction; FCS, User's Manual; FCSM, System Reference Manual. Ottawa: Solicitor General of Canada, Research and Systems Development Division.Google Scholar
KMENTA, Jan (1971) Elements of Econometrics. New York: MacMillan.Google Scholar
LOVELL, C.A. Knox (1973) “Homotheticity and the Average Cost Function,” 11 Western Economic Journal 506.Google Scholar
MADDALA, G.S. (1977) Econometrics. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
McGUIRE, William J. (1978) “An Economic Model of Criminal Correctional Institutions: Empirical Cost Analysis and Cost Benefit Measures.” Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Economics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.Google Scholar
McGUIRE, William J. and Ann D., WITTE (1978) “An Estimate of an Average Cost Curve for Large Scale Correctional Institutions.” Working paper, Department of Economics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C.Google Scholar
MONAHAN, John (1980) The Clinical Prediction of Violent Behavior. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
NAGIN, Daniel (1978) “General Deterrence: A Review of the Empirical Evidence,” in Blumstein, A., Cohen, J., and Nagin, D. (eds.), Deterrence and Incapacitation: Estimating the Effects of Criminal Sanctions on Crime Rates. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMISSION ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE STANDARDS AND GOALS (1973) Corrections. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
NISKANEN, William A. (1971) Bureaucracy and Representative Government. Chicago: Aldine.Google Scholar
PETERSILIA, Joan and Peter W., GREENWOOD (1978) “Mandatory Prison Sentences: Their Projected Effects on Crime and Prison Populations,” 69 Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 604.Google Scholar
PRIGMORE, Charles S. and Richard T., CROW (1976) “Is the Court Remaking the American Prison System,” 40 Federal Probation 3.Google Scholar
RUTHERFORD, Andrew, et al. (1977) Prison Population and Policy Choices (2 Vols). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.Google Scholar
SERRILL, Michael S., Joan, POTTER, and Rob, WILSON (1978) “Prison Population Rises Again But at a Slower Rate,” 4 Corrections Magazine 20.Google Scholar
SINGER, Neil M. and Virginia B., WRIGHT (1975) Cost Analysis of Correctional Standards for Institutional-Based Programs and Parole (2 Vols). Washington, D.C.: American Bar Association, U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
TABASZ, Thomas F. (1975) Toward an Economics of Prisons. Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (1977) Prisoners in State and Federal Institutions on December 31, 1976 - Advance Report. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (1980) Prisoners in State and Federal Institutions on December 31, 1978. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
WITTE, Ann D. (1980a) “Estimating the Economic Model of Crime with Individual Data,” 94 Quarterly Journal of Economics 57.Google Scholar
WITTE, Ann D. (1980b) “Theoretical Models for Some Measures of Post-Release Criminal Activity. Working paper, the Osprey Company, Raleigh, North Carolina.Google Scholar
WITTE, Ann, HOFLER, Richard, McGUIRE, William, BASS, Jeffrey, REID, Pamela, TRUMBULL, William, and Colette, CHABOTT (1979) “Empirical Investigations of Correctional Cost Functions.” Final report to the National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
WONNACOTT, Ronald J. and Thomas H., WONNACOTT (1970) Econometrics. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar

Cases Cited

James v. Wallace 406 F. Supp. 318 (M.D. Ala.), 1976.Google Scholar