Case Study: Private Prisons

A case study on the South African government's use of Asset Procurement and Operating Partnership Systems (APOPS) to establish two maximum security private prisons in Bloemfontein and Louis Trichardt.

• In 2000, the South African government entered two 25-year concessions for maximum security prisons in Bloemfontein and Louis Trichardt. These facilities, which became operational in 2002, hold approximately 3,000 inmates each and cost roughly $245 million for the Bloemfontein site and $259 million for the Louis Trichardt site.
• A government review indicated that while the private prisons offered higher quality facilities and service levels than public prisons with comparable daily operating costs per prisoner, the design and operating specifications were excessively high. These specifications were modeled after ideal prisons in the UK, and the project lacked proper feasibility studies to determine affordability limits before procurement.
• The long-term cost to the government was increased by high interest rates and a 'higher than normal return on equity' due to the perceived risk of the initial deals. Consequently, these two APOPS prisons are projected to consume 5% of the total Correctional Services budget for the 25-year duration of the contracts.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2008). Case Study: Private Prisons. https://saiia.org.za/news/case-study-private-prisons/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. Case Study: Private Prisons. 2008. https://saiia.org.za/news/case-study-private-prisons/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=Case Study: Private Prisons |date=24 April 2008 |url=https://saiia.org.za/news/case-study-private-prisons/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2008case, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{Case Study: Private Prisons}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2008}, month = apr, url = {https://saiia.org.za/news/case-study-private-prisons/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }