Site Network:Prison Policy Initiative|Prisoners of the Census

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..