The Georgia prison system has a lack of inmate bed space and must outsource their excess inmates to 21 local option county correctional institutions and four private prisons located throughout the state under contractual arrangements. Host county governments receive a supplemental unpaid inmate labor force to perform public work. Inmates in private prisons do not work outside the prison walls. Private for-profit prison services corporations can easily determine their financial success through profit and loss statements but Georgia county governments and their correctional institutions do not have these types of financial documents and their financial success is difficult to ascertain. The objective of this research project was to explore the 21 county correctional institutions to understand them in greater detail, determine if their operations were financially successful, educate decision makers and the public about this obscure and unique method of incarceration, and perhaps develop a theory regarding operating these types of correctional facilities. A qualitative multiple case study was conducted of the 21 county correctional institutions through review of public documents and telephone interviews with their wardens and finance officials. The participation rate from the wardens was 100%. The major findings were all the studied county correctional institutions experienced significant annual losses when audited revenues were compared to audited expenses except for one. But when cost avoidance was factored in of not having to hire additional county employees or contractors to perform the work that inmates perform, all the counties experienced a significant “profit.” Hosting and operating an optional county correctional institution brings significant financial benefits to the host county as well as the state. Keywords: Outsourcing state inmates, Outsourcing public services, Georgia prison system, County correctional institutions, Resource dependence theory, Public finance