Editorial: Privatization is bad idea for inmate care

Senate-Assembly budget subcommittee wisely has recommended that the Legislature reject Gov. Kenny Guinn's proposal to privatize the medical care that inmates receive in state prisons. Guinn's plan met resistance immediately from many state legislators who worried that the state could be setting itself up for lawsuits from inmates if a private company didn't provide appropriate care.

That fear isn't idle speculation. Corrections Corp. of America, which runs a prison in Ohio, reached an out-of-court settlement in March for $1.6 million with inmates who alleged that they experienced unsafe conditions, including lack of adequate medical care.

An example of the type of cost-saving problem that privatization presents was offered by Guinn's legislation that would have given private companies the ability to hire unlicensed professionals to treat prisoners who are sexual offenders. Don Molde, the mental health director for the Department of Prisons, contended that if that exemption wasn't granted, then the bids would be more costly since they would need to incorporate the higher salaries of licensed practitioners. This would undermine the financial benefits of privatization, which was estimated to save $2 million a year, according to Molde. Yet it is the very lowering of standards for immediate cost-savings that could actually result in costing taxpayers more in the long run if inmates successfully sue the state for not providing adequate care.

The move to privatize prison services usually is done reluctantly. Privatization often is a symptom of the push over the past decade to enact tough-on-crime legislation, which carries a huge price tag. More prisons have to be built, additional guards have to be hired and more medical personnel are needed to finance the Legislature's costly "lock 'em up" policies. The Legislature should reject privatizing medical care in state prisons, but policymakers should look in the mirror if they want to see the real reason why privatization increasingly is being advocated.

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