Pubdate: Mon, 08 Feb 2010
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Authors: Gary Fields And Nathan Koppel

STATES SEEK PRISON BREAKS

In Hunt for Savings, Officials Release Inmates While Boosting 
Probation and Parole

States seeking to save money are beefing up probation and parole 
programs to reduce the number of prison inmates, as well as pushing 
rehabilitation over jail for low-level drug crimes.

The effort comes from governors of both parties and could stall 
decades of tough-on-crime policies that saw state-prison populations 
boom. States now spend a total of $50 billion a year, or 7% of their 
discretionary budgets, on corrections facilities, according to the 
National Association of State Budget Officers, behind only health 
care and education.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, this month introduced a 
budget that seeks savings from prison closings. Mr. Cuomo believes 
"there is a lot of excess capacity in the prison system and is 
saying, 'Why should we pay for it if we don't need it?'" said Erik 
Kriss, a spokesman for the governor's budget division. Mr. Cuomo 
didn't specify the number of prisons he would seek to close but has 
stated that at least 3,500 prison beds could be eliminated, which 
could save more than $100 million by 2013, Mr. Kriss said.

In Florida, Republican Governor Rick Scott on Monday introduced a 
budget that would slash $500 million in corrections spending, in part 
through staff cuts. New Hampshire and South Carolina have both 
changed their laws in an effort to lower recidivism and cut prison 
populations.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, last month announced the 
state had entered a partnership with the Pew Center to develop 
strategies for cutting Louisiana's prison population.

State lawmakers in Indiana, meanwhile, are considering a series of 
changes supported by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels.

"One of the benefits of this will be the avoidance of over a billion 
dollars of spending to build new facilities" Mr. Daniels said in 
announcing the proposal recently.

States are not yet changing current sentencing guidelines for crimes 
beyond low-level drug offenses. Instead, the changes are designed to 
reduce the current prison population by, for example, offering 
treatment to drug-addicted parolees to prevent them from returning to 
prison for lengthy periods after their release.

Any changes are likely to face resistance from towns that benefit 
from the jobs produced by local prisons and from unionized 
corrections workers and other law-enforcement groups, some of the 
most powerful players in state government.

Jim Pasco, executive director of the National Fraternal Order of 
Police, said it was premature to cut prison populations.

"Those officials have forgotten that it is the threshold 
responsibility of an elected official to provide for the safety of 
the citizens he or she represents," said Mr. Pasco, whose labor 
organization represents 330,000 law enforcement officers. "Stay 
tuned. When you let all these criminals out of jail, the crime rate 
is going to go up again."

James Baiardi, president of the corrections chapter of the Florida 
Police Benevolent Association, said "officers who work behind the 
fences think some reform and changes in how they lock up people might 
not be a bad idea." But he rejected the idea that changes to how 
states handle prison populations should be driven by budgetary concerns.

In addition to stretched coffers, years of falling crime rates have 
emboldened states to divert nonviolent offenders away from prison, 
legal experts said. The nation's violent-crime rate in 2009 fell 6% 
from the previous year, and was down 41% from 1990, according to the 
Federal Bureau of Investigation, which compiles data from states nationwide.

"Fiscal pressure alone won't spur prison reform, because you will get 
pushback from politicians who will say you can't put a price on 
public safety," said Michael Jacobson, director of the Institute of 
Justice, a nonpartisan organization that works with states seeking to 
reduce prison populations. As crime has declined, he said, the 
"public is no longer clamoring for spending more money on prisons."

- -Vera

Texas was considering building more prisons. Now, it's seeking to 
reduce caseloads for probation and parole officers, and funneling 
drug offenders and the mentally ill to nontraditional court systems.

The state jails probation violators for shorter periods-for as little 
as a couple of days, compared with finishing the sentence-enough to 
"give them the idea that we are serious about them changing their 
lives," said State House member Jerry Madden, a Republican, who 
joined with a Democrat to push through the program.

The changes cost about $241 million, "a lot less than $540 million 
for building three prisons" Mr. Madden said. Under pressure, the 
state legislature is now considering cutting even that proposal.

"Every state ought to want to move in this direction," said Rep. 
Frank Wolf (R., Va.), who requested a report to be released Tuesday 
detailing the changes sweeping through state corrections departments. 
He added that 20 states are making changes or seeking information 
about what others are doing.

"I'm sending a copy of this report to every governor," Mr. Wolf said.

The report, compiled by the Council of State Governments Justice 
Center, draws on studies by other groups and a criminal-justice 
summit held last year. It highlights four common ways states have 
successfully revamped their systems, including identifying high-risk 
offenders, strengthening community supervision and concentrating 
services in the places where most ex-offenders live.

In 2008, Arizona expected its prisoner population to increase by 50% 
in 10 years, which would have forced the state to spend at least $2 
billion to build and operate new facilities, the report said. By 
placing a new emphasis on probation and parole supervision, Arizona 
was able to slow the pace of people being returned to lockup, which 
dropped to 5,354 in 2010 from 7,520 in 2008. The additional prisoners 
would have cost the state $35.9 million.

Marshall Clement, co-author of the report, said the key was cutting 
corrections budgets without prompting a rise in crime.

"The question is how to do it the right way and increase public 
safety at the same time," Mr. Clement said.

In Florida, annual spending on corrections has increased from $500 
million in 1988 to $2.4 billion even as the crime rate has dropped, 
said Robert Weissert, the vice president of research at Florida 
TaxWatch, a nonpartisan research institute that has advocated in 
favor of reducing prison spending. "Incarceration is an important 
function of the state, but we need to incarcerate people we are 
afraid of, not people who are committing lower level crimes."

[sidebar]

Hard Times

Thirty-one states made midyear cuts to corrections spending, totaling 
$805.9 million, in fiscal 2010.

State: amount in millions

Colorado: $112.5

New York: 70.0

Virginia: 68.5

Nevada: 63.4

New Jersey: 54.4

North Carolina: 52.6

Alabama: 36.8

Iowa: 35.7

Georgia: 34.0

South Carolina: 29.2

Maryland: 27.8

Oklahoma: 26.8

Mississippi: 24.9

Texas: 20.0

Pennsylvania: 19.4

Hawaii: 14.1

Idaho: 13.1

Missouri: 12.3

New Mexico: 12.3

Utah: 11.1

Washington: 10.0

Arizona: 9.5

Rhode Island: 6.3

Minnesota: 4.4

West Virginia: 3.9

Montana: 2.6

New Hampshire: 2.4

Kansas: 2.0

Nebraska: 0.8

South Dakota: 0.7

U.S . jail and prison population

Year: Jail: State and federal prisons

2000: 613,534: 1,316,333

2005: 740,770: 1,448,344

2006: 759,717: 1,492,973

2007: 773,341: 1,517,867

2008: 777,852: 1,522,834

2009: 760,400: 1,524,513

Sources: National Association of State Budget Offices (budget cuts); 
Justice Department (population)
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D