Are private prisons more cost-effective than public prisons? A meta-analysis of evaluation research studies

The need to reduce the costs of incarceration to state and federal correcti onal agencies has allowed the movement to privatize correctional institutio ns to gain considerable momentum The empirical evidence:regarding whether p rivate prisons are more cost-effective than public institutions;:-however, is inconclusive. To address this question, a meta-analysis was conducted of 33 cost-effectiveness evaluations of private and public prisons from 24 in dependent studies. The results revealed that private prisons were no more c ost-effective than public prisons,' and that other institutional characteri stics-such as the facility's economy of scale, age, and security level-were the strongest predictors of a prison's daily per diem cost.