![]() ![]() Because the size of states and state prison systems vary widely, there is likewise variation between each states’ total prison costs, ranging from $65 million in North Dakota, to more than $8 billion (a fifth of the total prison spending in the United States) in California-the largest state prison system in the country (see Table 1).Ī common measure used by states to understand this cost is the “average cost per inmate,” calculated by taking the total state spending on prisons and dividing it by the average daily prison population. In 2015, among the 45 responding states, the total state expenditure on prisons was just under $43 billion. Prisons must at all times provide: adequate levels of security program and administrative staff to run facilities and both supervise and provide services for incarcerated persons food and programming for the people under their care, including sufficient recreational and educational opportunities infrastructure maintenance and upkeep, including electricity and other operational costs and, increasingly, higher levels of specialized health care for a growing population with significant levels of physical and mental health concerns. ![]() 12 This, as Vera’s survey results confirm, is an expensive endeavor. Because prisons are institutions where all aspects of life are conducted and administered, they must provide everything deemed necessary for those who are confined there-some for very long periods of time. ![]()
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