Section III: The Prison Economy

Private prisons

• Year first modern private prison company was founded489: 1983
• Number of beds in privately run adult prisons, 2001490: 142,521
• Percent of state prisoners in private facilities, 2001491: 6.1%
• Percent of federal prisoners in private facilities, 2001492: 11.9%
• Percent of INS detainees in private facilities, 2001493: 10.1%
• Percent of private prison market controlled by Wackenhut Corporation and Corrections Corporation of America494: 75%
• Value of all Wackenhut Corrections Corporation stock, in dollars495: $147 million
• Wackenhut Corrections Corporation profits reported in third quarter, 2002496: $10 million
• Percent loss in the value of a share of Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, 2002497: 35.6%
• Percent loss in value of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, 2002498: 15.9%

Safety first?

• Correctional Officer turnover rate in private prisons, per year499: 40.9%
• Correctional Officer turnover rate in public prisons, per year500: 15.4%
• Percent more inmate-on-staff assaults in privately run medium and minimum security prisons than in publicly run facilities501: 49%
• Percent more inmate-on-inmate assaults in privately run medium and minimum security prisons than in publicly run facilities502: 54%

This page is an excerpt from The Prison Index: Taking the Pulse of the Crime Control Industry (2003) by Peter Wagner, published by the Western Prison Project and the Prison Policy Initiative. Footnotes for all facts are available in the print version.