Prison Spending Ripe for Reform

The Lansing State Journal today cites Mackinac Center research about the lower costs of privatized prisons. In 2007, Fiscal Policy Director Michael LaFaive found that entry-level guards in state-run prisons and at a privatized facility in Baldwin both made about $14 an hour, but those working in government facilities had “far superior benefits,” the State Journal reported.

As Michigan Capitol Confidential recently reported, prison spending in Michigan is up 26 percent since 2000, despite there being about 8,000 fewer prisoners.

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