Federal Prison Expansion: Overcrowding Reduced but Inmate Population
Growth May Raise Issue Again (Letter Report, 12/14/93, GAO/GGD-94-48).

The inmate population of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has risen
dramatically in recent years, a trend that is expected to continue. BOP
has acted on many of GAO's recommendations for expanding capacity,
including greater use of double-bunking in facilities, better use of
halfway houses, and use of surplus military property in prisons.  But
BOP has yet to pursue statutory authority that would allow it to explore
whether private prisons would be a cost-effective alternative at the
federal level.  BOP, which has received more than $3.1 billion in
federal funding to increase bed capacity, has increased its number of
facilities from 70 in 1989 to 103 in 1993; it plans to have 51 more
facilities up and running by 1997.  But if no changes are made to
sentencing laws and if prison construction is not funded in the budgets
for fiscal years 1994 and beyond to accommodate the expected growth,
overcrowding could again become a serious problem in the late 1990s.
Policymakers are considering revising the sentencing guidelines and laws
to permit the use of alternative sanctions.  Changing these law
enforcement policies could effect the total prison capacity needed;
types of facilities needed; and the resource requirements of other law
enforcement entities, such as the judiciary's Probation Service.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  GGD-94-48
     TITLE:  Federal Prison Expansion: Overcrowding Reduced but Inmate 
             Population Growth May Raise Issue Again
      DATE:  12/14/93
   SUBJECT:  Correctional facilities
             Facility management
             Prisoners
             Planning
             Government facility construction
             Construction costs
             Halfway houses
             Surplus federal property
             Cost effectiveness analysis

             
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