According to conventional wisdom, the provision of services by private, profit-oriented companies will result in lower costs than provision by public sector employees. The logical extension of this argument gives rise to the belief that the management of prisons by private firms will result in cost savings to governments. However, empirical data on the experience of private prison operations in both the United States and Queensland does not support the case for the superior economic efficiency of private prison companies. In addition, the performance of government-run prisons should not be considered in static terms. Nothing inherent in the nature of public-sector prisons prevents improvements in both the economic and noneconomic dimensions of their operations. In fact, public prisons will need to improve the efficiency and quality of their operations to prevent further use of private prison contractors. Tables and 37 references (Author abstract modified)