Pubdate: Tue, 10 Apr 2001
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Section: Metro Briefs
Author: Andrew Jacobs
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

HACKENSACK: PRISON POPULATION DROPS

After years of continual growth, New Jersey's prison population has begun 
to shrink for the first time in more than two decades. There were 27,676 
people incarcerated in the state as of last month, down from a peak of 
31,290 in 1999. The 11 percent drop, prison officials said, was partly 
because of a reduced backlog in parole board hearings. State officials 
expect to save $83 million as a result. The number of inmates increased 
fourfold between 1980 and 1999, largely because of mandatory minimum 
sentences and stricter drug laws.   
- ---
MAP posted-by: GD