Simon Hakim and Erwin Blackstone, professors of economics at Temple's Center for Competitive Government, recently examined government corrections data across 10 states and found that contractor-operated prisons generate 12.46 to 58.37 percent in long-run savings without sacrificing the quality of services. "In addition to the savings generated by the private contractors themselves, we also found that competition yields better performance for both private and public facilities," they wrote in an op-ed.