During its 1994 special session, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 2005 (now codified as MISS. CODE ANN. § 47-5-1201 et seq.) to address short- and long-term bed capacity within the state's correctional system. The bill created the State Prison Emergency Construction and Management Board to expedite the contracting and construction of proposed public and private prison facilities authorized by the bill.
MISS. CODE ANN. § 47-5-1211 (1) (3) (a) states:
No contract for private incarceration shall be entered into unless the cost of the private operation, including the state's cost for monitoring the private operation, offers a cost savings of at least ten percent (10%) to the Department of Corrections for at least the same level and quality of service offered by the Department of Corrections.
This section also requires PEER to contract annually with a certified public accounting firm to establish a state cost per inmate day for a comparable state facility. The law further requires that the state cost per inmate day be certified annually and that the certified cost be used as the basis for measuring the validity of the ten percent savings of the contractor costs.
Chapter 964, Laws of 1996 (Local and Private), established the East Mississippi Correctional Facility Authority. The bill authorized such authority to contract with MDOC for the private incarceration of up to 1,000 prisoners in compliance with the provisions of MISS. CODE ANN. Sections 47-5-1211 through 47-5-1227.
Cost Per Day Determination
Deloitte & Touche LLP provided cost per inmate day determinations for all security levels of inmates combined (i.e., MDOC's general cost per inmate day) and also on the basis of security classification (i.e., minimum, medium, or maximum) of inmates. Deloitte & Touche also provided a cost per inmate day determination for a psychiatric correctional facility.
MDOC's FY 1997 general cost per inmate day for a 1,000-bed facility totaled $46.81 and included the following components:
|
Direct Costs |
| |
|
|
Basic housing & visitation |
$28.15 |
|
|
Education & training |
1.55 |
|
|
Food |
1.51 |
|
|
Farming |
.86 |
|
|
Medical |
4.79 |
|
|
Parole Board |
.12 |
|
Allocated Administrative Costs |
2.26 | |
|
|
Total Operating Costs |
$39.24 |
|
Annual Debt Service |
7.57 | |
|
Total Average Daily Costs |
$46.81 | |
MDOC's FY 1997 costs per inmate day for individual security classifications in a 1,000-bed facility were as follows: minimum security, $43.26; medium security, $46.58; and, maximum security, $59.18. MDOC's FY 1997 costs per inmate day for security classifications in a 500-bed psychiatric correctional facility were $54.47 for medium security and $64.66 for maximum security.
This report presents a cost determination. PEER does not express any opinion on the department's economy or efficiency or the reasonableness of any expenditure reported herein. In light of the rapid increase in the cost per inmate day over the past three years, the PEER Committee recommends that MDOC conduct an internal efficiency and economy review to reduce these costs.
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