Prisons show the ups and downs of privatization
Source: By Bill Cotterell, Tallahassee Democrat (FL), Oct 15, 2007
There were little pre-teen beauty queens and balloons and lots of smiling faces among the local officeholders on hand when they cut the ribbon last month to open Florida's biggest privately operated state prison, a modern, 1,500-bed institution over in Graceville.
......... But just three days after the grand opening - but shouldn't they call it a "grand closing" when it's a prison? - the Department of Management Services sent out a couple of little letters that show the down side of privatization in general, and prison privatization in particular. The department fined both GEO and Corrections Corp. of America nearly $300,000 for excessive use of overtime in two other institutions.
......... GEO and Corrections Corp. of America didn't return calls asking for comment late last week. But in privatization generally - and prisons in particular - one sure way to do a job cheaper than the government can do it is to hire fewer people. If that means working them longer hours, it's probably cheaper to pay overtime than to hire more people and incur the expenses of Social Security, insurance coverage, vacation time, holidays, pensions and whatever other benefits employees of the private companies may receive.