As someone else already commented, the conditions in Texas prisons run by corporations like CCA aren't exactly the greatest. The state of Texas currently pays, on average, $21k per prisoner. Keeping the prices low at $14k per inmate in states like Indiana and Kentucky could potentially be creating additional costs to the state in the form of recidivism, and other social problems. We didn't find conclusive data (comprehensive hard dollar figures)on this but answering your question is the next step.