GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

July 27, 2012

The Honorable Patrick J. Leahy 

Chairman 

Committee on the Judiciary 

United States Senate

The Honorable Robert C. Scott 

Ranking Member 

Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security 

Committee on the Judiciary 

United States House of Representatives

The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings

Ranking Member

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

United States House of Representatives

Subject: Federal Bureau of Prisons: Methods for Estimating Incarceration and 

Community Corrections Costs and Results of the Elderly Offender Pilot

This letter formally transmits the enclosed briefing in response to your request 

following the issuance of our February 2012 report, Bureau of Prisons: Eligibility and 

Capacity Impact Use of Flexibilities to Reduce Inmates' Time in Prison, that we 

provide additional information on the Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) methods for 

estimating costs of housing inmates in BOP facilities, Residential Re-entry Centers 

(RRC), and home detention, as well as the evaluation of and results of the Elderly 

Offender Pilot Program (the Pilot) and any cost savings to the federal government.1

Our briefing addresses the following questions: (1) How does BOP estimate the daily 

cost of operating BOP facilities of different security levels and community 

corrections? (2) What are the final results of the Elderly Offender Pilot Program, 

including any cost savings identified by BOP, and to what extent can these results 

be used for policy decisions? To conduct this work, we analyzed relevant laws and 

BOP policies, obtained cost data for BOP facilities from fiscal years 2009 through 

2011; reviewed BOP’s December 2011 report to Congress summarizing the results 

of the Pilot, and interviewed BOP headquarters officials responsible for BOP’s 

budget and relevant programs.2

 

1

GAO, Bureau of Prisons: Eligibility and Capacity Impact Use of Flexibilities to Reduce Inmates' Time in Prison, 

GAO-12-320 (Washington, D.C.: Feb. 7, 2012).

2

Federal Bureau of Prisons, Elderly and Family Reunification for Certain Nonviolent Offenders Pilot Program: 

Report to Congress (December 2011).

United States Government Accountability Office

Washington, DC 20548
Page 2 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

In summary, BOP uses different factors in estimating the daily costs of its facilities 

and community corrections and incorporating certain additional factors would 

increase the daily cost per inmate for its facilities. Specifically, BOP estimates daily 

costs per inmate for its prison facilities using operational costs such as staff salaries

and training, inmate food, and medical supplies, among other things, but does not 

include factors such as construction of new prisons, certain modernization and repair

(M&R) projects, or depreciation of its existing facilities. According to BOP, these 

M&R projects and depreciation are incorporated into budget requests, financial 

statements, and a user fee BOP computes to bill states for the full costs of housing 

state prisoners. Adding these costs into BOP’s estimates would raise the costs from 

between $4.39 and $4.82 per day per inmate for the last 3 fiscal years. For 

community corrections, BOP estimates daily costs using the contract per diem rates 

paid to the private companies that operate RRCs and monitor inmates on home 

detention and the costs of management and oversight by BOP Community 

Corrections officials and subtracts out subsistence fees paid by inmates in RRCs 

and on home detention. As we reported in February 2012, contractors are not 

required by law to report various components of their costs, a fact that, according to 

BOP officials, makes it difficult to identify all the factors that may account for 

variation between BOP’s costs of operating prison facilities and the costs of 

operating community corrections. However, BOP officials anticipated that an

ongoing pilot to separate contract pricing for in-house beds and home detention 

services would likely inform BOP about the prices of each of these major 

components of community corrections.

Few inmates were eligible for the Elderly Offender Pilot and BOP estimated that the 

Pilot achieved no costs savings. However, we identified limitations in BOP’s 

evaluation of the Pilot and cost estimates that raise questions about the reliability of 

the evaluation for estimating future costs and informing policy decisions. Specifically, 

statutory requirements limited the number of offenders eligible to participate in the 

Pilot. Seventy-one of the 855 inmates who applied for the pilot met the criteria and 

were placed on home detention. According to BOP estimates, the Pilot achieved no 

cost savings and actually cost the agency $540,631 above what would have been 

spent had the inmates remained in BOP facilities. However, we identified limitations 

in BOP’s cost estimates and evaluation, and thus the results may not be reliable for 

informing future policy decisions. For example, while BOP knows what it paid RRCs 

to monitor Pilot participants on home detention, we reported in February 2012 that it 

does not know the exact cost of home detention, since those costs are not 

separated from the overall cost of the RRC contract. BOP is revisiting pricing for 

these services in responding to our recommendation, but it does not know what it 

would pay for home detention services if Congress continued or expanded a 

program of early release to home detention for elderly inmates. As a result, these 

limitations raise questions about the reliability of BOP’s evaluation for estimating 

future costs. 

For additional information on a summary of the results of our work, see enclosure I, 

slides 10 through 13. We are not making any recommendations for congressional 

consideration or agency action.
Page 3 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

We provided a draft of this briefing to the Department of Justice and BOP for review 

and comment. BOP did not provide written comments to include in this report, but 

provided technical comments, which we incorporated as appropriate.

We are sending copies of this report to the Attorney General, selected congressional 

committees, and other interested parties. This report will also be available at no 

charge on our website at http://www.gao.gov. Should you or your staff have 

questions concerning this report, please contact me at (202) 512-9627 or 

maurerd@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of Congressional Relations and 

Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this report. Key contributors to this 

report were Chris Currie, Assistant Director; Tom Jessor; Michael Kniss; Billy 

Commons, III; and Pedro Almoguera.

David C. Maurer

Director, Homeland Security and Justice Issues

Enclosure (1)
Enclosure I

Page 4 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Federal Bureau of Prisons: 

Methods for Estimating Incarceration and Community 

Corrections Costs and Results of the Elderly Offender Pilot

Briefing for Congressional Requesters

July 23, 2012

Page 1

Enclosure I
Enclosure I

Page 5 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Briefing Overview

• Introduction

• Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

• Results in Brief

• Findings

• Objective 1: Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Estimates of 

Facility and Community Corrections Costs

• Objective 2: Results of the Elderly Offender Pilot Program (the 

Pilot)

• Agency Comments

• GAO Contacts

Page 2
Enclosure I

Page 6 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Introduction 

BOP Facilities and Community Corrections

• At the end of fiscal year 2011, about 94 percent of BOP’s inmate population of about 

217,800 was incarcerated in either federal institutions or privately managed prisons, 

operating at four different security level designations: minimum, low, medium, and high.1

• Security designations depend on the level of security and staff supervision the institution 

provides, such as the presence of security towers, perimeter barriers, the type of inmate 

housing, and staff-to-inmate ratio, among other things. 

• To facilitate inmates’ reintegration into society, BOP may transfer its eligible inmates to 

community corrections locations for the final portion of their sentences. Inmates may 

spend up to 12 months in contract residential reentry centers (RRC)—also known as 

halfway houses. BOP, to the extent practicable, can also place inmates on home 

detention for the shorter of 10 percent of their term of imprisonment or 6 months. 

• BOP inmates in RRCs or on home detention are held to strict schedules and are 

monitored by RRC staff or by U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services (USPPS) probation 

officers. At the end of fiscal year 2011, about 5 percent of BOP’s total inmate population 

was housed in RRCs or home detention.

Page 3 1BOP also has agreements with state and local governments and contracts with privately operated facilities for the detention of federally adjudicated juveniles and for 

the secure detention of some short-term federal inmates. About 1 percent of the inmate population was incarcerated in such facilities at the end of fiscal year 2011.
Enclosure I

Page 7 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Introduction (cont.)

Contractors Monitor Inmates in RRCs and on Home Detention

• Each RRC is operated by 1 of 105 contractors used by BOP. The contractors are paid a 

negotiated per diem rate for each inmate housed at the facility (per RRC bed) and are 

paid 50 percent of the negotiated per diem rate to monitor an inmate on home detention.

• We reported in February 2012 that2

• RRC contractors are not required to disclose financial information to BOP, such as 

the actual costs of providing various services to inmates, and 

• BOP also does not require RRC contractors to separate the price of home 

detention services from the price of RRC beds and thus does not know the actual 

costs of home detention. In accordance with standard practices for program and 

project management, specific desired outcomes or results should be 

conceptualized and defined in the planning process as part of a road map, along 

with the appropriate projects needed to achieve those results, and milestones; thus 

we recommended that BOP establish a plan for requiring contractors to submit 

prices of RRC beds and home detention services. 

• BOP agreed with our recommendation and identified an RRC solicitation in two 

locations as a pilot for separating contract pricing for in-house beds and home 

detention services. BOP stated that if the results of the pilot were determined to be 

cost-effective and in the best interest of BOP, it anticipated separating the pricing 

for in-house RRC and home detention services in all future RRC solicitations. 

Page 4 2GAO, Bureau of Prisons: Eligibility and Capacity Impact Use of Flexibilities to Reduce Inmates’ Time in Prison, GAO-12-320 (Washington, D.C. Feb. 7, 2012). 
Enclosure I

Page 8 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Introduction (cont.)

Elderly Offender Pilot Program

• The Second Chance Act of 2007 (Pub. L. No. 110-199) directed BOP to conduct the 

Elderly and Family Reunification for Certain Non-Violent Offenders Pilot Program (the 

Pilot) from fiscal years 2009 through 2010 to determine the effectiveness of placing 

eligible elderly offenders on home detention until the end of their prison terms.

• The statute required eligible inmates to be at least 65 years old and have served the 

greater of 10 years or 75 percent of the imposed sentence. Other statutorily set criteria 

for inclusion in the program were that applicants could not have a life sentence; a history 

of violence, espionage, sex offenses, or acts in connection with terrorism; or a history of 

escape or attempted escape. The statute also required that eligible offenders not be at 

substantial risk, as determined by BOP, of engaging in further criminal conduct or 

endangering the public and that placement on home detention would result in a 

substantial net reduction of costs to the federal government, as determined by BOP.

• The statute further required that (1) BOP monitor and evaluate each eligible elderly 

offender placed on home detention and (2) BOP report to Congress on the Pilot results, 

which it did in December 2011. 

Page 5
Enclosure I

Page 9 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

• In February 2012, we reported that BOP utilizes various statutory authorities to reduce 

the time inmates are incarcerated in prison.3 As part of our work, we provided 

information on BOP’s reported costs of housing inmates in prisons versus the costs of 

RRCs and home detention and preliminary results from BOP on the Elderly Offender 

Pilot Program, among other things. 

• In response to this report, you asked us to provide additional information on BOP’s 

methods for estimating costs of housing inmates in BOP facilities, RRCs, and home 

detention, as well as the implementation and results of the Elderly Offender Pilot 

Program and any cost savings to the federal government. Specifically, our objectives 

were to determine

• how BOP estimates the daily cost of operating BOP facilities of different security 

levels and community corrections and

• the final results of the Elderly Offender Pilot Program, including any cost savings 

identified by BOP, and the extent to which these results can be used for future 

policy decisions. 

Page 6 3GAO-12-320. 
Enclosure I

Page 10 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Objectives, Scope, and Methodology (cont.)

• To determine the factors BOP included in its estimates of the daily cost of operating 

BOP facilities of different security levels and community corrections, we reviewed

• BOP cost data for facilities of various security levels and community corrections for 

fiscal years 2009, 2010, and 2011, and 

• agency budget documents and BOP policy and program statements regarding the 

use of appropriation funds available for modernization and repairs. 

• We also interviewed BOP officials regarding how costs of incarceration are estimated, 

including what specific factors are included in BOP’s estimates, such as certain 

maintenance and repairs, and those factors that are not included and why. 

Page 7
Enclosure I

Page 11 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Objectives, Scope, and Methodology (cont.)

• To determine the results of BOP’s Elderly Offender Pilot Program and how BOP 

identified any cost savings from the program, we reviewed

• BOP’s December 2011 report to Congress summarizing the results of the Pilot, 

• statutory language outlining criteria for eligibility in the Pilot and BOP program 

guidance outlining procedures for screening Pilot applicants,

• documentation of eligibility decisions made by BOP headquarters officials on 

inmate applications for the Pilot, and 

• BOP projections of the number of inmates potentially eligible if the statutory criteria 

(age of offender/length of sentence served) were to be adjusted by Congress. 

• We interviewed BOP officials regarding implementation and results of the Pilot, including 

BOP’s methods for estimating any cost savings.

Page 8
Enclosure I

Page 12 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Objectives, Scope, and Methodology (cont.)

• We obtained information from relevant BOP officials about steps taken to ensure the 

accuracy of data used in our prior work and February 2012 report as well as additional 

data used in this report, and found the data for objective 1 to be sufficiently reliable for 

the purposes of this report. After reviewing possible limitations in the data underlying 

BOP’s estimated costs of the Elderly Offender Pilot program, we determined that the 

estimates provided by BOP may not be reliable for drawing conclusions about the costs 

of the program and discuss the limitations we identified in this report, in the results 

section for objective 2.

• We conducted this performance audit from March through July 2012 in accordance with 

generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require that we 

plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a 

reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our objectives. We believe 

that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions 

based on our objectives.

Page 9
Enclosure I

Page 13 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Results in Brief

Objective 1

• BOP uses different factors in estimating the daily costs of its facilities and community 

corrections; incorporating additional factors would increase the daily cost per inmate for 

its facilities. 

• To estimate daily costs per inmate for its prison facilities, BOP totals operational 

costs such as staff salaries and training; inmate food, medical expenses, clothing 

and laundry; utilities, supplies, equipment, security and routine maintenance; and 

expenses incurred by BOP facilities but paid centrally, such as workers’ 

compensation, payroll expenses, and telephone charges. 

• BOP does not include factors such as costs associated with construction of new 

prisons, modernization and repair (M&R) projects costing over $10,000, or 

depreciation of its existing facilities in its estimated daily costs. According to BOP, 

these costs are incorporated into budget requests and financial statements, and 

also into a user fee BOP computes to bill states for the full costs of housing state 

prisoners. The fee includes the costs of M&R projects and depreciation. Adding this 

fee would raise the daily cost of incarceration in BOP facilities by between $4.39 

and $4.82 per day per inmate, for the last 3 fiscal years.

Page 10
Enclosure I

Page 14 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Results in Brief

Objective 1 (cont.)

• BOP estimates daily costs for community corrections using the contract per diem 

rates paid to the private companies that operate RRCs and monitor inmates on 

home detention, the costs of management and oversight by BOP Community 

Corrections officials, and subtracting out subsistence fees paid by inmates in RRCs 

and on home detention.

• As we reported in February 2012, contractors are not required by law to report 

various components of their costs, a fact that, according to BOP officials, makes it 

difficult to identify all the factors that may account for variation between BOP’s 

costs of operating prison facilities and the costs of operating community 

corrections.4

• BOP officials anticipated that BOP’s ongoing pilot to separate contract pricing for 

in-house beds and home detention services would likely inform BOP about the 

prices of each of these major components of community corrections. 

Page 11 4GAO-12-320. 
Enclosure I

Page 15 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Results in Brief

Objective 2

• Few inmates were eligible for the Elderly Offender Pilot, and BOP estimated that the 

Pilot achieved no cost savings to the federal government. However, we identified 

limitations in BOP’s evaluation of the Pilot and cost estimates that raise questions about 

the reliability of the evaluation for estimating future costs and informing policy decisions.

• According to BOP’s Pilot report, 71 of the 855 inmates who applied for the Pilot met 

the statutory criteria, were deemed eligible by BOP, and were placed on home 

detention. 

• According to BOP estimates, the Pilot achieved no cost savings and cost the 

agency $540,631 above what would have been spent had the inmates remained in 

BOP facilities. As a result, BOP estimated it would have been cheaper if inmates 

had stayed in BOP facilities rather than on home detention. 

• BOP estimated it cost about $35 to $48 a day for each Pilot participant on home 

detention and compared this with the marginal cost for housing inmates in 

minimum- or low-security BOP facilities, which includes the various daily costs of 

operating the facilities, other than most staffing costs. 

Page 12
Enclosure I

Page 16 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Results in Brief

Objective 2 (cont.)

• We identified limitations in BOP’s cost estimates and evaluation, and thus the results 

may not be reliable for informing future policy decisions. For example

• BOP knows what it paid RRCs to monitor Pilot participants on home detention. 

However, as we reported in February 2012, BOP does not know the exact cost of 

home detention since those costs are not separated from the overall negotiated 

cost of the RRC contract. Since BOP is revisiting pricing for these services in 

responding to our recommendation, it is not yet positioned to know what it would 

pay for home detention services if Congress continued or expanded a program of 

early release to home detention for elderly inmates. 

• Some of the amounts paid by BOP for home detention of Pilot participants would 

have been incurred without the Pilot. Current law allows BOP to place inmates, to 

the extent practicable, on home detention for the shorter of 10 percent of the term 

of imprisonment or 6 months. All inmates eligible for the Pilot could have been 

placed on home detention by BOP for up to 6 months even if the Pilot had not been 

conducted. This could have affected BOP’s conclusions about the additional costs 

of the Pilot.

• These limitations raise questions about the reliability of BOP’s Elderly Pilot evaluation 

for estimating future costs and informing policy decisions.

Page 13
Enclosure I

Page 17 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Objective 1: Facility and RRC Costs

Operating Costs Include Day-to-Day Operations and Support

• We reported in February 2012 that BOP reports total daily operating costs for various 

categories of facilities and for community corrections by fiscal year.5

• BOP estimates of the total daily operating costs for its prison facilities include expenses 

associated with day-to-day operations such as staff salaries and training; inmate 

medical expenses, food, clothing, and laundry; and utilities, equipment, security, and 

maintenance of grounds. Total costs also include related support costs, which are 

primarily comprised of institution-related expenses incurred by BOP institutions but paid 

by headquarters because of centralized billing procedures, including workers’ 

compensation and payroll processing for institution staff, telephone, and other charges; 

and salaries for headquarters, regional, and Training Center staff. Support costs 

averaged around 11 percent of total costs during fiscal years 2009, 2010 and 2011.

• Total daily operating costs for community corrections include amounts paid to private 

contractors (at per diem rates negotiated with the contractors) net of subsistence fees 

paid by inmates in RRCs or on home detention, as well as the costs of management and 

oversight by BOP Community Corrections officials, which averaged between 7 and 8 

percent of total costs during fiscal years 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Page 14 5GAO-12-320, 18. 
Enclosure I

Page 18 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Objective 1: Facility and RRC Costs

Community Corrections More Costly than Minimum-Security 

Facilities

• In fiscal years 2009 and 2010, BOP reported that housing inmates in community 

corrections was more costly, on a per diem basis, than housing inmates in minimumand low-security facilities, and in fiscal year 2011, more costly than housing inmates in 

minimum-security facilities, as shown in table 1 on the next slide.

Page 15
Enclosure I

Page 19 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Objective 1: Facility and RRC Costs

Table 1: BOP Per Capita Total Daily Operating Costs, Fiscal Years 

2009 through 2011

Page 16

Classification type Total daily cost, 2009 Total daily cost, 2010 Total daily cost, 2011

Minimum-security

facilities

$56.91 $57.55 $58.32

Low-security facilities 65.81 69.53 73.57

Medium-security 

facilities

69.51 71.91 73.57

High-security facilities 87.75 92.76 94.87

Contract RRCsa $67.83 $70.79 $71.68

Source: BOP per capita cost data, http://www.bop.gov/foia/reading.jsp. aIncludes amounts paid to private contractors to operate RRCs and to oversee inmates on home detention, as well as the costs of management and oversight by 

BOP Community Corrections officials, subtracting out subsistence fees paid by inmates in RRCs and on home detention.
Enclosure I

Page 20 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Objective 1: Facility and RRC Costs

Some Costs Not Included in Operating Costs for BOP Facilities

• According to BOP officials, operating costs are designed to capture the day-to-day 

routine costs of taking care of BOP inmates, and are tracked for budgetary purposes to 

support BOP’s Salaries and Expenses (S&E) appropriation. Other BOP expenses, such 

as for construction, M&R costs over $10,000, or depreciation of assets, are not included 

in BOP’s estimates of daily per inmate operating costs and are reported elsewhere for 

budgetary purposes. BOP officials stated that these costs are not included in total daily 

operating costs because

• new construction costs vary significantly by year, and it would be misleading to 

include these costs in estimates of day-to-day operations. These costs are included 

separately in BOP’s Building and Facilities (B&F) appropriation;

• M&R projects typically cover one-time major repairs, such as replacing roofs, 

upgrading electrical plants, or repaving or resurfacing roads, and are tracked for 

budgetary purposes to support BOP’s B&F appropriation; and

• in accordance with BOP Program Statements and Statement of Federal Accounting 

Standard 6 (Accounting for Property, Plant and Equipment), BOP reports 

depreciation costs in its annual financial statement.

Page 17
Enclosure I

Page 21 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Objective 1: Facility and RRC Costs

Additional Factors Could Raise Estimated Costs of Operating BOP 

Facilities 

• According to BOP officials, reported total daily costs do not represent the full cost of 

operating BOP facilities. Although reported total daily costs do not include construction, 

M&R, or depreciation, BOP includes these costs when computing a user fee each year 

to cover the full incarceration costs borne by BOP for housing state prisoners. The user 

fee is added to the total daily costs for each security level and includes

• the cost of M&R and construction projects between $10,000 and $100,000 when 

these projects are put into use (maintenance and repair projects costing up to 

$10,000 are already included in daily operating expenses);

• depreciation of BOP real property, which also includes M&R and construction 

projects that are capitalized when put into use (the criteria for capitalization of real 

property include that the total project cost be $100,000 or more, among other 

things); and

• interest payments on a 25-year capital lease for a Federal Transfer Center in 

Oklahoma City.

• Adding the user fee would increase the cost of incarceration in BOP facilities at each 

security level about $4.39 in fiscal years 2010 and 2011, and $4.82 in fiscal year 2009.

Page 18
Enclosure I

Page 22 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Objective 1: Facility and RRC Costs

Exact Costs of Community Corrections Activities Are Unknown

• It is not known what specific costs are included in the community corrections costs 

reported by BOP, as RRC contractors are not required by Federal Acquisition 

Regulations to report what they spend their money on to BOP. 

• According to BOP officials, the costs of operating BOP facilities may not be comparable 

with the costs to RRC contractors of operating community corrections for the following 

reasons:

• BOP facilities and RRCs serve different purposes. The purpose of placing an 

inmate in community corrections, according to BOP, is to help prepare the inmate 

for transition to the community.

• It is not clear whether the RRC costs include the same factors included in BOP 

facility costs. BOP officials stated that they expected that the RRC contractors 

would include all costs to operate facilities in the rate contractors negotiate with 

BOP, including factors that BOP includes in estimates of operating its prison 

facilities, such as utilities, repair and maintenance, but also including factors that 

BOP does not include, such as property tax and a profit margin. 

• BOP officials stated that they anticipated that results from the pilot BOP is conducting to 

separate contract pricing for in-house beds and home detention services as a result of 

our prior recommendation would likely inform BOP about the price of each of these two 

components of community corrections. 

Page 19
Enclosure I

Page 23 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Objective 2: Elderly Offender Pilot

BOP Screened Inmate Applicants in Two Stages

Page 20

Source: GAO analysis of BOP data. 

•According to BOP officials, Pilot applicants denied at BOP institutions did not meet basic statutory 

eligibility criteria. Applicants denied at BOP headquarters were mostly excluded due to officials’ 

assessments that the inmate was at risk of criminal conduct or endangering the public. 
Enclosure I

Page 24 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Objective 2: Elderly Offender Pilot

Eligible Inmates Limited by the Statutory Criteria

• According to BOP officials, statutory requirements were the primary factor limiting the 

number of inmates eligible for the Pilot. BOP did not centrally track the specific reasons 

applicants were determined to be ineligible at the institution level, and stated that 

obtaining this evidence after the conclusion of the Pilot would be prohibitively laborintensive. However, BOP estimates based on BOP’s fiscal year 2012 inmate population 

data show that the population potentially eligible if statutory requirements for program 

eligibility remained the same would be limited:

• BOP estimated that its fiscal year 2012 population of offenders 65 years of age and 

older who have served the greater of 10 years or 75 percent of their sentences is 

about 231 offenders.

• Of the estimated 231 offenders 65 years of age and older who have served the 

greater of 10 years or 75 percent of their sentences in fiscal year 2012, BOP 

estimated that about 131 of these offenders would be excluded because of 

statutory prohibitions on participation of inmates who have been sentenced for a 

violent offense or sex offense or have a criminal history involving violent or sex 

offenses. 

Page 21
Enclosure I

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Objective 2: Elderly Offender Pilot

Number Eligible under Revised Criteria

Table 2: BOP Estimate of the Number of Elderly Offenders Who Would Be Eligible for and Receive 

Home Detention from Fiscal Years 2012 through 2014 if Congress Revised the Pilot Statutory 

Criteria for Age and Sentence Length.

Page 22

Age Amount of sentence served Projected number of Inmates 

receiving home detentiona

Adjust age requirement, keep requirements for amount and percentage of sentence served

60 Greater of 75% or 10 years 322

55 Greater of 75% or 10 years 452

Keep age requirement; adjust requirement for percentage of sentence served, and drop requirement to serve 10 

years

65 75% 477

65 70% 617

65 67% 673

65 50% 1,095

Source: GAO analysis of BOP inmate data and population projections.

aBOP estimates assume program reauthorized in fiscal year 2012 and the same percentage of new applicants pass BOP’s screening as did in fiscal year 2010 (74 percent).
Enclosure I

Page 26 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Objective 2: Elderly Offender Pilot

BOP Reports Positive Outcomes from the Pilot

• According to BOP, the Pilot achieved several positive outcomes:

• As of June 2012, none of the 71 inmates placed on home detention as the result of 

the Pilot had re-offended or violated the terms of release to home detention.

• According to BOP, BOP’s costs for Pilot participants’ medical care were minimal 

($2,270 total, as of the December 2011 report; BOP further reported that there 

have been no substantial additional reported medical costs as of June 2012).6 In its 

review of inmate applications, BOP assessed each inmate’s health and officials 

stated that Pilot applicants and participants were generally deemed to be in good 

health.

• According to BOP, inmates on home detention are responsible for the costs of 

their health care, but if inmates cannot pay their health care costs, BOP will 

assume the burden of these costs.

• Elderly inmates can also be eligible for Medicare, and may qualify for Medicaid 

or health services from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to cover 

medical costs. BOP did not track or ask inmates if they used such services to 

cover or supplement their health care costs during the Pilot.

Page 23 6Federal Bureau of Prisons, Elderly and Family Reunification for Certain Nonviolent Offenders Pilot Program: Report to Congress (December 2011), 4.
Enclosure I

Page 27 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Objective 2: Elderly Offender Pilot

BOP’s Estimates Identified No Cost Savings

• According to BOP, the Pilot cost $540,631 more than what would have been spent had 

the inmates remained in BOP facilities.

• According to BOP, transferring only one or two inmates out of a facility does not 

reduce necessary staffing levels and other costs associated with inmate care and 

prison operations. Therefore, BOP used marginal costs instead of total daily costs 

to calculate actual program costs. Marginal costs are estimates of what is actually 

spent to provide security, food, medical care, clothing, unit management, 

education, records, and maintenance when additional inmates are added to 

existing BOP facilities, and differs from per capita costs in that it includes almost no 

staffing costs. Home detention costs were calculated on a per capita basis, 

because if an inmate is on home detention, money is allocated to pay for the 

contractual services that would include monitoring equipment, drug testing, and 

home visits if required.

• BOP compared the daily marginal cost to house an inmate in a minimum- or lowsecurity facility (estimated at $20.08 and $24.32, respectively) with the regional 

average per diem paid to RRCs to supervise inmates on home detention (ranging 

from $34.86 in BOP’s Southeast Region to $47.76 in BOP’s North Central Region) 

for each day an inmate was on home detention. According to its estimates, BOP 

determined that it was more costly to place an inmate on home detention than 

house the inmate in a BOP facility. 

Page 24
Enclosure I

Page 28 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Objective 2: Elderly Offender Pilot

BOP’s Estimates Identified No Cost Savings (cont.)

• BOP officials stated that even if the Pilot eligibility requirements were to be changed, 

there would not be enough potentially eligible participants to reduce necessary staffing 

levels, utilities, maintenance, and other costs associated with inmate care and prison 

operations, unless the requirements for age or percentage of sentence served were 

substantially lowered. Therefore, BOP would continue to calculate costs of the program 

using marginal rather than total daily costs, resulting in net costs to BOP to operate the 

program.

Page 25
Enclosure I

Page 29 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Objective 2: Elderly Offender Pilot

BOP’s Evaluation and Cost Estimates Had Limitations

• We identified limitations in BOP’s evaluation of the Pilot and cost estimates, and thus 

the results may not be reliable for informing future policy decisions.

• We reported in February 2012 that BOP does not require RRC contractors to 

separate the price of home detention services from the price of RRC beds and 

thus does not know the actual costs of home detention. We recommended that 

BOP establish a plan for requiring contractors to submit separate prices of RRC 

beds and home detention services.7

• In responding to this recommendation, BOP identified an RRC solicitation in two 

locations as a pilot for separating contract pricing for in-house beds and home 

detention services. BOP stated that if the results of the pilot were determined to be 

cost-effective and in the best interest of BOP, it anticipated separating the pricing 

for in-house RRC and home detention services in all future RRC solicitations. 

• Most of the costs associated with the Pilot were for RRC monitoring of inmates on 

home detention. Since BOP is revisiting pricing for these services in responding to 

our recommendation, BOP is not yet in a position to know whether what it paid for 

home detention services for Pilot participants is a reliable indicator of what it would 

pay for home detention services if Congress considered continuing or expanding 

early release to home detention for elderly inmates.

Page 26 7GAO-12-320, 20. 
Enclosure I

Page 30 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Objective 2: Elderly Offender Pilot

BOP’s Evaluation and Cost Estimates Had Limitations (cont.)

• BOP’s evaluation and cost estimate were also limited because they assumed BOP 

incurred additional costs for each day Pilot participants were on home detention. BOP 

assumed this because BOP’s daily rate paid to the RRC for monitoring always exceeded 

the marginal cost of incarceration in a BOP facility. 

• However, BOP would have been paying some of these costs anyway. Current law 

allows BOP to place inmates, to the extent practicable, on home detention for the 

shorter of 10 percent of the term of imprisonment or 6 months. All inmates eligible for 

the Pilot were required to have served 10 or more years of their sentences and as a 

result, could have been placed on home detention by BOP for up to 6 months (6 months 

is less than 10 percent of 10 years) even if the Pilot had not been conducted. Thus, 

some of these costs would have been incurred anyway, and this limitation could have 

affected BOP’s conclusions about the additional costs of the Pilot.

• While the Pilot and the report on its results have now been completed, the limitations 

that we have identified raise questions about how reliable BOP’s cost estimate and 

assessment of the Pilot are for making policy decisions about any similar pilots or other 

programs related to elderly offenders or home detention in the future. 

Page 27
Enclosure I

Page 31 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Agency Comments

• We provided a draft of this briefing to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and BOP for 

review and comment. BOP did not provide written comments to include in this report, but 

provided technical comments, which we incorporated as appropriate. 

• BOP disagreed with our statement that BOP does not know the exact cost of home 

detention. BOP stated that it knows the costs of home detention because it pays 

contractors a set rate of 50 percent of the cost for RRC beds. BOP also reiterated that 

RRC contractors are not required to provide BOP the costs they actually incur for home 

detention services. BOP noted that during the pilot they are conducting to separate the 

price of home detention from the RRCs, BOP will continue to know how much it pays 

contractors for home detention, but contractors will still not provide their actual costs. 

We agree that BOP knows what it pays for home detention and that the pilot will not 

provide BOP the contractors’ exact costs for home detention. BOP will not know the 

exact cost of home detention and, as a result, we continue to believe our statement is 

accurate. Separating the price of home detention from the price of RRCs during the 

pilot, rather than assuming this price will be 50 percent of the RRC price, will provide 

BOP with better information on the costs of home detention and help BOP determine the 

most cost effective options for monitoring inmates on home detention.

Page 28
Enclosure I

Page 32 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

GAO Contacts

• Should you or your staff have any questions on the matters discussed in this briefing, 

please contact David C. Maurer at (202) 512-9627 or maurerd@gao.gov or Chris Currie 

at (404) 679-1875 or curriec@gao.gov.

(441057)

Page 29
Enclosure I

Page 33 GAO-12-807R Incarceration Costs and Elderly Offender Pilot Results

Page 30

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(441057)
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