America has been getting tougher on lawbreakers. This issomething that the publi

America has been getting tougher on lawbreakers. This issomething that the public long has been demanding. The problem itcreates however is a shortage of prison capacity to hold theincreased numbers of convicted criminals. This has led to: prisonovercrowding sometimes prompting court actions against penalsystems; rapidly rising operational outlays; and taxpayerresistance to the cost of new prisons. A partial answer to theproblems of prison overcrowding and high costs may be theprivatization of prisons. Costs and overcrowding problems are thedriving force behind the privatization phenomenon. As a nationalaverage it costs roughly $20000 per year to keep an inmate inprison. There are approximately 650000 inmates in state and localprisons. This costs taxpayers an estimated $18 billion each year.More than two thirds of the states are facing serious overcrowdingproblems and many are operating at least 50 percent overcapacity.