Prison Costs: Opportunities Exist to Lower the Cost of Building Federal Prisons
GGD-92-3
Published: Oct 25, 1991. Publicly Released: Nov 05, 1991.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO compared federal and state prison construction and operation costs for new medium-security prisons.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Justice | The Attorney General should require the Director, BOP, to reassess current prison standards to determine if the amount of space provided to federal inmates could be reduced. |
Closed – Implemented
All policy and design standards have been incorporated into the FY 1994 budget.
|
| Department of Justice | The Attorney General should require the Director, BOP, to promote the use of multipurpose space, where feasible. |
Closed – Not Implemented
GAO concluded that action is not intended on this recommendation. Since BOP is increasing the capacity of its institutions without proportionately increasing program space, officials believe such space will be used to its fullest.
|
| Department of Justice | The Attorney General should require the Director, BOP, to amend prison site selection criteria to include consideration of geographic differences in labor and material costs. |
Closed – Not Implemented
BOP officials contend that it is not necessary to have these costs as specific criteria because economic-based criteria used for site selection relates to the issue. GAO suggested that the recommendation be closed.
|
| Department of Justice | The Attorney General should require the Director, BOP, to consider prevailing labor costs and locality pay differentials when selecting sites for new prison construction. |
Closed – Not Implemented
GAO concluded that action is not intended on this recommendation. BOP officials believe that they already considered this indirectly by taking into account economic factors. GAO suggested that the recommendation be closed.
|
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Topics
Comparative analysisCompensationConstruction costsCorrectional facilitiesCorrectional personnelCost controlFacility constructionStaff utilizationPrisonersSite selection