Pubdate: Thu, 17 Apr 2003
Source: Herald-Dispatch, The (WV)
Copyright: 2003 The Herald-Dispatch
Contact: http://www.herald-dispatch.com/hdinfo/letters.html
Website: http://www.hdonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1454
Author: Ronald Fraser

REDUCING PRISON COSTS CAN SAVE W.VA. TAXPAYERS MILLIONS

Gov. Bob Wise's projected $250 million budget deficit is due in part to the 
cost of confining 3,000 people in state prisons. To cut prison costs -- and 
avoid the appearance of being soft on crime -- some states are turning to 
dead-end fixes. Other states, however, are counting on alternatives to 
incarceration to reduce prison costs.

The cost to keep each West Virginia inmate behind bars is $47.78 a day, or 
$17,000 a year. Add in other operating and capital costs, and you get a 
prison bill of $77 million a year. What to do?

Illinois cut inmate education programs to save $5 million a year. Minnesota 
is charging inmates room and board, and Iowa prisons now serve desserts 
only once a day. Against huge budget shortfalls, these measures are fiscal 
dead-ends.

States that really want to reduce prison costs are adopting policies that 
cost less than locking people up. Smart prison strategies come in three 
varieties:

- -- Early Release -- Kentucky's governor gave 567 nonviolent inmates an 
early release from prison to ease his budget woes.

A similar step that would cut a year off each sentence in West Virginia 
could save as much as $9 million.

- -- Sentencing Reform -- Michigan's former Republican governor John Engler 
signed into law a bill repealing the state's mandatory minimum sentencing 
laws for drug crimes, a step that is already reducing the number of 
nonviolent, first-time offenders going to jail and could save $41 million 
in 2003. North Carolina, Connecticut and other states are making similar 
changes.

In West Virginia, every 1,000 offenders not incarcerated for a year would 
cut the budget deficit by $17 million.

- -- Treatment instead of jail -- Texas, Oregon, California, Idaho and 
Arkansas use drug treatment to greatly lower prison costs. Since about 80 
percent of prison inmates have serious drug and alcohol problems, this 
strategy has great potential for reducing budget deficits. In California, 
treatment programs could send 24,000 fewer persons to prison each year.

Spending taxes upfront to prevent problems can significantly cut costs 
later on in state run corrections, health, education and welfare programs. 
An Oregon study found for every dollar invested in treating inmate 
substance abuse, taxpayers eventually save about $5 in future costs.

Effective treatment programs cost about $3,500 per year. But tax savings 
during the first year after a person successfully completes a treatment 
program can be enormous: $5,000 in reduced crime costs; $7,300 in reduced 
arrest and prosecution costs; and, for West Virginia, $17,000 in reduced 
incarceration costs.

Each citizen or inmate who completes a state-sponsored treatment program 
and then avoids a future run-in with the law, could save taxpayers at least 
$29,000. For every 1,000 citizens and inmates successfully completing these 
programs, future West Virginia budget deficits could be reduced by $29 million.

Leaders in Charleston can continue to raise taxes to incarcerate nonviolent 
offenders. Or they can use smart sentencing policies, coupled with 
treatment and prevention programs, to cut both prison costs and taxes.
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MAP posted-by: Alex