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| Commentary: The case for privatizing Michigan prisons |
| By detroitnews.com - Gary Wolfram |
| Published: 08/16/2012 |
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Most people working in Michigan either have their own business or are employed by a private company. Yet when it comes to involving private businesses providing services to the public sector - say, running prisons - in any new way, the alarms start going off. Why is that? The easy answer is that people are unaccustomed to change in how government services are provided. Another major reason is that those working in the public sector are concerned that they will lose their jobs. These are legitimate concerns, but not necessarily valid when everything is considered. One area where these types of savings are not being fully realized is with the Michigan Department of Corrections. With a $2 billion budget that has been increasing even as the number of inmates is going down, the Department of Corrections is an excellent place to make innovative use of the private sector a major focus. The public sector cannot exist without using private businesses to operate. It is not just the taxes that private businesses pay, but things that are much more fundamental to the operation of government. For example, the public sector would grind to an immediate halt without paper, one kind or another. Does the public sector make paper? No. It purchases paper from private businesses. The list is virtually endless when it comes to the various items and services businesses provide to the public sector. While products have always been purchased from the private sector by the public sector, increasingly the benefits of having services provided by the private to the public are being utilized at significant savings for taxpayers. This trend toward using the private sector to produce services provided by the public sector started long ago, but the current financial shortfall the public sector is facing has forced a much needed broader look at better ways of doing business. The public sector has learned that the private businesses can, more often than not, provide the service cheaper and more efficiently. While there are examples where this is not the case, unless there is corruption what should happen, and often does, is the contracting entity cancels the contract and either finds a new vendor or keeps the work in house. A growing example of where this is happening is in the transportation field involving school districts and the children they teach. Districts across the state have realized great savings by contracting with private firms to bus children to and from school. There are a number of other similar examples where tax dollars are being saved and the service being provided is as good, if not better, than before. Read More. |
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