Last year, the United States spent $57,000,000,000 (that’s billions) on prisons and jails. Figuring the inmate population to be reasonably flat since 2002, that’s about $28,000 per inmate, or $2300 per month. For a studio not much larger than one you might find in Manhattan.
Meanwhile, over at HUD, which has a comparatively measly $38,000,000,000, but serves a larger population (3 million) and has a slew of additional program requirements, they do the math for you: it costs $130,000 for subsidize housing for an urban household over a thirty year period, which comes out to $361 a month. Too bad it’s easier to get into prison.
UPDATE: Well, turns out the efficiencies realized by HUD are about to get better. We’ll have to get back to you with new numbers, but, as you can imagine, they are going to be less. Maybe we can build more jails with the savings.
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A $2300 studio? No, the Big House.
Last year, the United States spent $57,000,000,000 (that’s billions) on prisons and jails. Figuring the inmate population to be reasonably flat since 2002, that’s about $28,000 per inmate, or $2300 per month. For a studio not much larger than one you might find in Manhattan.
Meanwhile, over at HUD, which has a comparatively measly $38,000,000,000, but serves a larger population (3 million) and has a slew of additional program requirements, they do the math for you: it costs $130,000 for subsidize housing for an urban household over a thirty year period, which comes out to $361 a month. Too bad it’s easier to get into prison.
UPDATE: Well, turns out the efficiencies realized by HUD are about to get better. We’ll have to get back to you with new numbers, but, as you can imagine, they are going to be less. Maybe we can build more jails with the savings.