Paid a stipend to not commit a crime.

[Brownshoe]

(02-03-2016, 04:01 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: But the number of healthcare staff and guards is going to be directly proportional to the number of inmates. Therefore, the cost for guards and healthcare staff can also be divided among inmates.

I could go even further into other things because even utilities and maintenance are counted into the cost per inmate in most cases, but there is no general way to truly divide that up as it is not necessarily directly proportional like the other things are.

Edit: I see what you're saying, that the single person wouldn't increase costs that much. I can concede that, however we can use these costs to determine whether things like this are a less expensive alternative to incarceration, especially if the program is more widely implemented.

The number of healthcare staff and guards are not as proportional to the number of inmates in the prison as you would think. When I worked at Lebanon Correctional there were 2 CO's per block, and it didn't change depending on how many inmates there are in that block. There would be ~200 inmates per block, and only 2 CO's, and that's in a closed security prison. In the "camp" there is very few inmates per block (the camp is for the minimum security inmates who do the yard work outside of the fences, work on the farm, and other things), and there is still 2 CO's per block (and there's about 200 inmates in the whole camp). The same goes for the healthcare staff in the infirmary.

Now obviously smaller prisons with less blocks will have less CO's, but I will guarantee you that there will only be the bare minimum of staff.

But all in all it costs around $50 a day to have just one inmate in prison.