May 2007

Most (58.5%) of the daily cost to incarcerate an inmate in a major prison is spent on security, followed by 21.8% for medical services. The remaining 20% is spent on feeding, clothing and educating inmates, and some administrative issues, as you can see from the pie chart.
COST OF IMPRISONMENT:$52.06 PER DAY/ $19,002 PER YEAR

A total of 7.9% of the state general revenue budget goes to corrections in Florida, which has a budget of more than two billion dollars. $1.3 billion of that goes directly toward security and institutional operations, and another $340.8 million toward health services for inmates, including dental. The cost of each prison varies, depending on the types of inmates who are housed there.
For example, it costs $92.60 a day to house an inmate at a reception center, because the inmates residing there are being evaluated and tested medically, psychologically, academically, vocationally, etc. In contrast, a typical adult male facility costs just $43.26 per day to house an inmate.
Most (80%) inmates work to help offset the cost of their incarceration. They work on farms and gardens producing their own food, construct new correctional facilities, and perform repairs and renovations to prisons. Inmates also prepare and serve all meals, maintain prison grounds, participate in sanitation and recycling processes, and work in PRIDE (Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises) programs.
Additionally, inmates are assigned to Community Work Squads under agreements with the Department of Transportation, other state agencies such as the Division of Forestry, counties, cities, municipalities, and non-proft organizations. In Fiscal Year 2005-06, the DC’s Community Work Squad Program saved Florida taxpayers more than $44.5 million through inmate labor -- a $2.5 million increase from the prior fiscal year.