zlacker

Prison facilities only make up about 10% of the incarceration cost.

Annual per capita costs of incarceration in California: http://www.lao.ca.gov/laoapp/laomenus/sections/crim_justice/...

http://www.lao.ca.gov/analysis_2008/education/ed_anl08006.as...

Education costs are a bit higher than the article suggests, and you are right that they would increase further if building expenses were included. Part of the problem is that most spending is controlled at the county level and many people oppose centralizing education spending or policy at the state or federal level.

Other interesting data can be found at the links provided, albeit a year or two behind the latest budget #s.

>>anigbr+(OP)
Thats 10% in a state with a large budget problem. Every little thing is being looked at there....

>>jackol+C
You missed the point, which was to allay the parent post's worries about accuracy by providing some more detailed statistics than were available in the article. I am not endorsing the policy behind those numbers. I live in California and it affects me too.

>>anigbr+(OP)
How has the cost of providing healthcare gone from $468 to $8768 in 8 years?

>>Alex39+B1
Several factors: aging of the inmate population (and higher probability of chronic illness, but people imprisoned under 3 strikes cannot b released on medical parole); higher cost of care in general, for the same reason that health insurance costs have risen; and large payouts for wrongful-death lawsuits due to medical negligence, and subsequent overhaul of prison care. Medical and pharmaceutical services are usually provided by specialty companies that sell both clinical and security expertise. Being a prison doctor pays about $250k/year. Most of the expense goes on a very small percentage of the prisoners, as end-of-life care is the most expensive kind.

http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-05-19/news/20904260_1_sick-i...

>>anigbr+(OP)
I'm not complaining about the spending, my point was just that it's an unfair comparison to include extraordinary expenses when presenting the costs of housing prisoners but not when presenting the costs of housing students.

>>Alex39+i4
I know. I just wanted to add more information to the discussion.