California per-pupil spending 2008: $9,015 California’s Annual Costs to Incarcerate an Inmate in Prison: $47,102
Why should those be, in any way, comparable?
Prisoners need cells, three meals a day, healthcare, clothing, and constant supervision, 24 hours a day. Schoolchildren only need classrooms and supervision for six hours a day five days a week. And prisons can't get away with a 30:1 inmate-to-guard ratio, either. It makes perfect sense that a prisoner should cost more than a schoolkid.
Of course I'm sure California prison guards are still ridiculously overpaid. My personal solution to this conundrum is to outsource California's prisons to Mexico.
Of course it's reasonable that prisons are more expensive on a per capita basis. The real question is which of those are most const-effective in making CA a better place to live. Putting all those people in prison was a choice.
California per-pupil spending 2008: $9,015 California’s Annual Costs to Incarcerate an Inmate in Prison: $47,102
http://blogs.sacbee.com/the-public-eye/2010/08/california-pe... http://www.lao.ca.gov/laoapp/laomenus/sections/crim_justice/...