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December 11, 2007
PA: Cost of prisons must be cut back
12/08/2007
Cost of prisons must be cut back
Citizen's Voice
Wilkes Barre, PA
Pennsylvania’s prison population has been exploding for decades, making corrections one of the state’s growth industries.
Finally, the overwhelming cost to the government of the burgeoning inmate population is forcing the state government to look at the entire system, rather than facilities alone.
They are inspired by a report by Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard, who recently warned lawmakers that the state would have to construct one new prison a year, beginning in 2012, if more sensible measures are not enacted to ease the pressure. The cost — $200 million to $300 million to build a prison, and $50 million a year to operate it. Per inmate, the cost is nearly $30,000 a year.
Many sensible measures have been on the table for many years. It’s good not only for the state budget, but for the cause of justice, that the Legislature appears poised to act on some of those measures.
The most important change would be to increase the emphasis on drug treatment as an alternative to incarceration for many more qualified non-violent offenders, and to establish an early-release program for state prisoners who complete drug treatment while incarcerated. Drug treatment is far less expensive than imprisonment, and it is more effective in reducing recidivism, thus easing prison crowding well into the future.
A second measure would reserve county prison space for offenders sentenced to two or fewer years. State sentencing guidelines call for inmates with sentences longer than two years to be placed in state prisons. Yet, according to the Department of Corrections, about 2,500 prisoners in that category are in county prisons statewide.
Ideally, the growing cost of the prison system also will convince lawmakers that mandatory sentencing is the simplest, but not necessarily the most effective, means to fight crime. The proof is the exploding prison population itself, indicating that long minimums do not have the desired effect of deterring crime.
Instead, the Legislature should authorize greater discretion for local judges to craft sentences to the crimes. The objective should be not merely incarceration but, wherever possible, to provide defendants with a chance for redemption. It’s not only smart, but less expensive.
http://www.citizensvoice.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19096846&BRD=2259&PAG=461&dept_id=456222&rfi=6
Posted by lois at December 11, 2007 09:36 AM