Michael Jacobson talked about a new survey of state corrections departments on the costs of incarceration, and he answered viewer phone calls and electronic communications. According to the survey, the combined costs incarceration in 40 states came to about $40 billion dollars in 2010. With all of the costs considered (including some of the outside costs of operating a prison), the average taxpayer in those states paid about $31 thousand dollars per inmate for incarceration services.
This program was part of C-SPAN’s “Your Money” series. Each Monday morning the last hour of “Washington Journal” is devoted to a federal program, focusing on its mission, participants, and cost.