The State - News from Aug. 7, 1989

The cost of operating prisons in California is expected to increase, costing $4 billion annually by 1994. That is more than double the current bill, according to prison officials. In addition, taxpayers can expect to spend $3.5 billion to build new prisons in the next five years. Corrections Director James Rowland said that the costs stem from projections that the state will have 136,000 people in prison by 1994, compared to 82,800 locked up now. The state currently spends about $1.8 billion annually to run its prisons.