Ninety-four privately operated correctional facilities in 26 States and Australia responded to the 1999 Corrections Yearbook questionnaire, representing a total of 49,027 prisoners. In addition to privately operated correctional facilities in the U.S., two facilities in Puerto Rico and four in Australia responded. Private correctional facilities is a term that represents several configurations of facility ownership and management. In some cases, a public agency may fund the construction of a facility and contract with a private vendor to operate the facility, while the public agency maintains ownership. In other cases, a private vendor may build and operate a facility, contracting with a public agency or several agencies to house inmates for a daily fee. Federal, State, and local inmates may be housed in these facilities. Survey findings revealed that approximately 64.6 percent of inmates in private facilities were non-white and 22.3 percent were Hispanic. Sixty-three percent of reporting facilities screen inmates for tuberculosis (TB) at intake. In 1998, screening identified 2,869 inmates who were infected. Fifty private facilities reported a total of 44 escapes and 173 walk-aways for 1998. Homicides accounted for approximately 68 percent of total inmate deaths in private facilities. Those jurisdictions contracting with private correctional facilities paid an average of $47.32 per inmate per day during 1998. The Immigration and Naturalization Service had the most private facility contracts, with 11. There were approximately two supervisors per 100 correctional officers and average of 6.7 inmates per one correctional officer in the reporting private correctional facilities. Tables, Graphs, and Glossary