Prisons and Local Crime


This is a list of studies that have been done on the topic of crime levels and prisons or other local effects of prisons. For example: What is the impact of prisons on local crime rates? What is their impact on property values?
 
This list was provided by someone who works in the California Department of Corrections planning division. No claims are made by them or here for its completeness. We make no suggestions as to how one would obtain the documents.
 
Cities with Prisons: Do they have higher or lower crime rates?
Prepared by the California Senate Office of Research 1985*
 
Impacts of Washington State's Correctional Institutions on Communities
1988
Florida Department of Corrections: The Socioeconomic Impacts of State
Prison Siting on the Local Community 1985*
The Federal Bureau of Prisons and the National Institute of Corrections have the following:
 
Impact of Correctional Facility Siting on Property Values: The
Michigan Experience 1987.
 
The Impact of Corrections Facilities: Local Economy and Property
Values 1990.
 
The Impact of a Correctional Facility on the Surrounding Community
1988.
 
The Impacts of a New Prison on a Small Town: Twice Blessed or Double
Whammy? 1990.

A Los Angeles Environmental Impact Report cited the following reports as well as the two with asterisks above:
 
Alabama Study: Analysis of crime rates in relation to correctional
facilities located in Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Maryland and
Pennsylvania 1982.
 
British Columbia Study: Fraser College Research Group in Canada performed a telephone survey of citizens within two Canadian cities for opinions of prison facilities 1981.
 
California Department of Justice: Organized Crime in California 1986.
Here is a new addition as of 3/22/06:
Big prisons, small towns: prison economics in rural America, brought to you by the Sentencing Project. One of the best studies around. The verdict: no impact.