31). The advantage of this is whatever price the company sets, that is all they get. If they underestimate the total fee the government isn't responsible to cover unanticipated expenses. Another plus of contracting is the government only pays for what it uses, if the population is low they don't pay as much as when the prison population is high. A public prison costs the government about the same no matter how many inmates are locked up. As population increases they can rent out more space, or decrease in the same manner without having to worry about personnel changes or unused wasted space. There is a private prison in Hamilton County, Tennessee called the Silverdale Detention Center that is owned and run by the Corrections Corporation of America. Bill McGriff is a county auditor in Hamilton County and every year he analyzes what the county spends on the private prison and what the county would pay if it went back to public hands. His studies show that the county saves around 3-8 percent a year than if the public managed it again (McDonald, pg. 90-91). This doesn't seem like that much but when your talking about a multimillion dollar contract, 3-8 percent is a lot more money. Anytime we can save money and offer the same services we"re doing a good thing. We"re also reducing risk because our government doesn't have to pay for land, construction, insurance, or day-to-day operating costs. I like the fact that the company has to worry about all those overheads because then I know as a taxpayer that I"m not going to pay for a prison to sit empty or for any other unnecessary bills. .
When it comes to quality, many people think that a private company will cut corners in order to maximize profit. While this sounds like a reasonable assumption, it really isn't the truth. These private companies actually requested to follow ACA (American Correctional Association) standards before the government asked them to.
