cost of housing an inmate in prison
One study estimated that the aver-. age per-cell cost of housing an inmate in a supermax prison. is $75,000, as opposed to $25,000 for an inmate in the gen-. eral population.3. While many states do not publish data on the costs of isolat-. ed confinement in their prisons, a survey of available figures. clearly reveals the high price of solitary .
The average annual cost to house, feed and care for a state prison inmate is $32,986, which includes $4,737 for health care, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Susan Bensinger said. Laurel Highlands' annual per-inmate cost is $45,993, or nearly 30 percent higher than the statewide average.