California is facing a crisis in its state prisons. Existing facilities are already beyond capacity and the public continues to strongly support tougher sentences for criminals. The State Department of Corrections estimates that unless we find more beds, California's prisons will run out of space in the year 2000.

At that point, the federal government could mandate early release of criminals to relieve overcrowding, putting them back in our neighborhoods. Despite that reality, no new money is currently allocated toward prison construction and no new facilities are on the drawing board. A major crisis faces our state unless the Legislature finds more prison beds.

State lawmakers are currently examining alternative solutions to address the severe overcrowding without increasing costs to the state. One option that should not be eliminated is prison privatization. Twenty-seven states already safely house more than 100,000 inmates in private facilities and save money doing it. California is one of those states. The California Department of Corrections already partners with private prison companies to operate nine community correctional facilities. So far, these partnerships have been successful.

However, Senate Constitutional Amendment 30 (Lockyer) - legislation that would prohibit privatization of public safety services - threatens to stymie lawmakers' efforts to keep prison privatization as an option to address the state's prison crisis.

David Myers is president of Corrections Corporation of America's West Coast Region.

Prison privatization is no longer a vague concept. It is a reality and the benefits are significant. Private prison companies design, finance and build their own facilities, indemnify the state against legal action, and train personnel to meet all state and/or federal standards. They work, they are safe and they save money for states that use them.

Because private prisons operate without the bureaucratic red tape that constrains government-run facilities, they are able to operate more cost-effectively through innovative and efficient management practices. An April 1998 study by the Reason Public Policy Institute found that private prisons save an average of 10 to 15 percent on operation costs, based on 14 independent cost studies.

Some say that private prison companies are beholden to Wall Street and their shareholders. They'd like everyone to believe that quality correctional services and coming out in the black are mutually exclusive endeavors. They are wrong. In fact, they have it backwards.

Private prison companies have enjoyed such success because they provide quality services. If they didn't, we wouldn't even be discussing them now.

Our incentive is to win contracts to house inmates. If we don't provide quality services, we don't win contracts. The more contracts we win, the more everyone wins. Government saves money, inmates are safely locked up and we meet our financial goals.

The Legislature's goal should be to maximize public resources, using them as efficiently as possible. If the state takes advantage of the private prison option, that's money saved, and general fund revenues are available for other critical state needs. Many legislators already recognize this benefit and rightly believe that prison privatization works.

That is why Corrections Corporation of America has made a $250 million commitment to building facilities in California. One of those facilities is in California City. Although we have no contracts with the state to house California inmates in that facility, I am confident that more and more legislators will embrace prison privatization, and the state will take advantage of the more than 2,300 quality beds that will be on line.

Unfortunately, legislators will not even have this option if SCA 30 passes. Eliminating private prisons as one option to address California's prison crisis jeopardizes public safety and would result in inefficient use of taxpayer dollars. SCA 30 is shortsighted and detrimental to California.

(Editor's Note: Although reconsideration was granted, SCA 30 was defeated on June 16 by the Senate Public Safety Committee. The vote was 2-5.)