Graying prison population spikes health care costs, drives ‘budget squeeze’

The state has paid 44% more for prisoners’ health care over the last two decades, even as the prison population has fallen by half.

By: Dana DiFilippo

Outlets: New Jersey Monitor

Published: February 17, 2026

Words: 1,610

Last Updated: 3 weeks, 1 day ago

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New Jersey taxpayers pay more than half a million dollars a day to cover the health care costs of people incarcerated in state prisons, a price tag that’s expected to climb soon with corrections officials now negotiating a new contract with the system’s medical provider.

Rutgers University Correctional Health Care has done that job since 2005 at a cost that has soared 44% over two decades, even though the number of people …

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