PRIVATE JAILS? THIS COULD BE ONE WAY TO HANDL THE LOAD

Sheriffs in several Southeast Missouri counties are examining the possibility of a regional jail under private management. It is worth investigating.

Housing prisoners is expensive, both from a manpower and a money point of view. Inmate costs run at least $25 a day in Cape Girardeau County. That adds up to a substantial $450,000 a year.

As judges crack down on crime, city, county and state jails and prisons must find more space. The Cape Girardeau County jail averages 72 prisoners a day. The jail was built for 54 prisoners. It can hold 64 prisoners. The rest are housed in neighboring jails.

Perhaps one of the most appealing aspects of a private jail is the potential reduction in county liability. The federal court system is overburdened by inmate lawsuits, many of which are frivolous. Inmates have a lot of time on their hands. The Cape Girardeau County jail is the target of about six inmate lawsuits a year, with two currently pending.

Those lawsuits can prove expensive for counties, even if no wrongdoing is ever found. Cape Girardeau County's sheriff, John Jordan, thinks a private regional jail would shield the county from having to deal with these lawsuits and would give his department more time to concentrate on law enforcement instead of jail administration. It seems a reasonable point.

Private jails are nothing new. Corrections Corp. of America, the company that is preparing the regional jail proposal, operates 28 facilities in eight states as well as Australia, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom -- 21,675 beds in all. There may also be other companies that can submit bids on a regional jail site. The state has also investigated the feasibility of private prisons.

While the notion deserves further study, it is too early for endorsement. Would counties have to come up with large commitments of money up front? Would counties have to guarantee a set number of prisoners? Where would the jail be located, and how many counties would share? What would the cost per inmate for counties, and how does that compare to current costs? These are just some of the questions.

Scott County is also very interested in a jail. Voters defeated two countywide tax proposals in April that would have provided additional law enforcement services and would have built a new county jail. Meanwhile, the county has to farm out a number of prisoners to neighboring counties.

The high cost of housing prisoners is a problem that won't go away. Missouri was among 17 states that saw increases of 10 percent or more in the number of people imprisoned from 1993-1994. As of last Dec. 31, there were 17,898 state and federal prison inmates in Missouri. That translates to 338 people in prison for every 100,000 Missourians. And that doesn't even count county and city jail populations.

A crackdown on crime carries a price of incarceration. No doubt private jails and prisons will play a growing role in meeting these confinement needs.