How Much Money Does It Cost To Keep A Prisoner In Jail?

The number of inmates in the UK prisons is rising rapidly causing concern for the Home Office. The prison numbers exceeded 76,000 and are still growing rapidly.

There are State run jails as well as privately run jails in the United Kingdom. The number of State run jails reaches to about 128, whereas the privately run jails number about 11 in the country.

An estimate of the cost of running jails in the UK shows that the average cost to keep a prisoner in jail varies between State run jails and privately run jails. The average cost per prisoner in a State run jail is about �25,718, whereas the average cost per prisoner in a privately run jail is considerably higher. The cost per prisoner in a privately run jail is estimated to reach about �31,502 an year.

The cost to the exchequer in running the Prison Service in the United Kingdom is estimated to be in excess of �2 billion a year.

Our tax dollars, you cant pay somebody to keep somebody prisoner.

I did a paper on this not too long ago. I don't remember the exact numbers...however, I do know FOR A FACT that it is actually cheaper for us to feed, clothe and house them for the rest of their lives than it is to follow through with the death penalty. It costs more to put someone to death than it does to care for them. Isn't that CRAZY?????

The only way it would cost more to execute vs. House is a result of the appeals process that is allowed to drag on for years. If we were to eliminate the appeals process, put to death within 30 days of conviction it would be much cheaper to execute them.