New York City paid $167,731 for each prisoner last year. That’s insane. Crazy high. And much higher than even the highest estimates I had heard. The New York Times reports “83 percent of the cost per prisoner came from wages, benefits for staff and pension costs.” That means it’s not going down anytime soon. Rikers Island is overstaffed (despite what Norman Seabrook says).
New York State averages $60,000 per prisoner. The national average cost is estimated to be over $31,000 per inmate.
That is some unbelievable shit.
Shit.
Holy shit.
I recall stories in the past about the cost for NYC to house a homeless family per day that was a few hundred dollars per day.
This rivals that.