Giving Compass' Take:

• A study at SSRN analyzes the wide-ranging effects of private prison contracting on inmate recidivism and financial capacity.

• How can you learn more about different forms of incarceration? What can you do to ensure you support policies that are socially just?

• Read further about the nature and impact of private prisons in the United States.

This paper examines the impact of private prison contracting by exploiting staggered prison capacity shocks in Mississippi. Motivated by a model based on the typical private prison contract that pays a per diem for each occupied bed, the empirical analysis shows that private prison inmates serve 90 additional days. This is alternatively estimated as 4.8 percent of the average sentence. The delayed release erodes half of the cost savings offered by private contracting and is linked to the greater likelihood of conduct violations in private prisons. The additional days served do not lead to apparent changes in inmate recidivism.

Read the full report on private prison contracting at SSRN.