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The Cost To House An Inmate In California Prisons Has Doubled Since 2005
The Los Angeles Times just dropped some whopping statistics when it comes to California’s overcrowded prison population. They report that it costs $75,500 on average to house each individual prisoner. That’s $2000 more than it cost to attend Harvard University! These numbers are increasing every year, despite efforts to decrease the California prison population. But, why?
This cost is double what it used to cost tax payers back in 2005. And in 2015, the cost reflected per inmate was about $10,000 less. The Times says that the surge in costs comes from excessive overcrowding. Salaries for more prison guards have driven up the statistics, providing one guard for every two inmates. Efforts to decrease the inmate population, like early release have cut down prisoners by a quarter according to te report, now they need to most likely get rid of some of those salaries.
Welp!
