"I am interested in the cost of a study that did everything but reach a conclusion," Hickman, R-St. George, told University of Utah professor Brad Lundahl during a legislative subcommittee hearing Wednesday.

Hickman was clearly perturbed that the study concluded that there were no clear, proven advantages or disadvantages to hiring companies to run prisons. He looked similarly off-put at Department of Corrections Director Tom Patterson's response when asked what the study told him.

"It tells me I shouldn't be running to privatization," Patterson said.

The reaction from Hickman and members of the Law Enforcement And Criminal Justice Interim Committee was understandable, said Russ Van Vleet, who heads the U.'s criminal justice department.

The study, which Van Vleet said cost the state no extra money, was essentially a review of all the reliable, unbiased studies on privatization available, he said. So it wasn't the university's fault that the studies found no clear winner, he said. If anything, Van Vleet said, the dozen studies of privatization leaned toward public-run prisons, he said.

The issue may be moot for the moment, as the bill that prompted the study and called for prison privatization failed last session. The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, did not show up for Wednesday's hearing, a fact pointed out by co-chair Sen. Jon Greiner, R-Ogden.

Patterson said he would continue to explore new ways to improve prison efficiency. He recently signed a multi-million dollar contract to create a 300-bed facility to house parole violators. The facility, set to open next spring, will be completely privatized from construction to management, Patterson said.

"This could be a testing ground to see if privatization could work."

rrizzo@sltrib.com