Last I checked, California cost per inmate was more than double the national average. Interestingly, from what I remember, 20 years ago the same cost in California was about national average.

California should investigate contracting the prison service to Oklahoma: Oklahoma spends per prisoner something like a quarter of California spends, so California could save lots of money this way, and Oklahoma would make a lot of money, a great example of positive sum trade.

Of course, that’s not going to happen, because California rulers don’t want to incarcerate all these people, and from this perspective, high cost is a feature, not a bug: it helps in arguing against incarceration.

Right off the bat I'm not sure you want to look at Oklahoma as a shining example of how to treat prisoners.

https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2019/feb/5/oklahoma-num...

> tents are cheap

But that plot of land its pitched on might be worth $200 per month (using FiDi pre-pandemic parking rates).