The cost to house an inmate in the city of Richmond is higher than it costs to send somebody to VCU for a year.



The cost to house an inmate in the city of Richmond is higher than it costs to send somebody to VCU for a year.

The average cost of housing a person in the Richmond City Jail for year was $24,308.36, according to the annual Jail Cost Report from the Virginia Compensation Board to the General Assembly for fiscal year 2012 (July 1, 2012 – June 30, 2013). This number was found after dividing the total annual expenditures ($33,278,140) divided by the reported average daily population (1,369) of the jail.

Comparatively, the cost for tuition, housing and a meal plan for an average VCU student is around $21,715.96, according to the university’s Undergraduate Admissions website.

Richmond’s jail seems to be a slight bargain compared to Virginia prisons – the average cost of a Virginia inmate per year is $25,129, according to a 2012 Vera Institute of Justice report – still more than a year at VCU. This report used fiscal year 2010 data for its analyses.



Image via VCU Facebook

Still, Virginia pays less per-inmate than the national average, $28,893.40 – still more than the cost of VCU tuition.

A 2011 article in the Atlantic highlighted the contrast between college tuition and per-inmate cost in New Jersey, which pays the most per-inmate nationally. One year at the prestigious Princeton University costs $37,000, less than one year at a New Jersey state prison, $44,000.

According to the Times-Dispatch, the office of Richmond’s Commonwealth Attorney has worked to reduce the city’s inmate population by over the past few months in preparation for the move to the $134 million Richmond City Justice Center, which opened last month. The new jail has capacity to hold 1,032 inmates, and was housing around 950 at the end of July.

There is no data yet on how much average inmate cost per year will be at the Justice Center.

The Richmond City Sheriff’s Office had not yet responded to calls or emails for comment by press time.