More than 1 in 100 Americans behind bars
2.3 million adults incarcerated, study says; states struggle to pay
the costs
By DAVID CRARY - The Associated Press
NEW YORK — For the first time in history, more than 1 in every 100
American adults is in jail or prison. A new report tracks the surge
in inmate population and urges states to rein in corrections costs
with alternative sentencing programs.
The report, released Thursday by the Pew Center on the States, said
the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year,
up from less than $11 billion 20 years earlier. The rate of increase
for prison costs was six times greater than for higher-education
spending, the report said.
Using updated state-by-state data, the report said 2,319,258 adults
were held in U.S. prisons or jails at the start of 2008 — one out of
every 99.1 adults, and more than any other country.
The report said prison growth and higher incarceration rates do not
reflect a parallel increase in crime or in the nation's overall
population.
Instead, it said, more people are behind bars mainly because of tough
sentencing measures, such as "three-strikes" laws, that result in
longer prison stays.
"For some groups, the incarceration numbers are especially
startling," the report said. One in 36 adult Hispanic men is behind
bars, based on Justice Department figures for 2006. One in 15 adult
black men is, too, as is 1 in 9 black men ages 20 to 34.
The steadily growing inmate population "is saddling cash-strapped
states with soaring costs they can ill afford and failing to have a
clear impact either on recidivism or overall crime," the report said.
Susan Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the States, said
budget woes are prompting officials in many states to consider cost-
saving corrections policies that might have been shunned in the
recent past for fear of appearing soft on crime.
"We're seeing more and more states being creative because of tight
budgets," she said. "They want to be tough on crime, they want to be
a law-and-order state — but they also want to save money and they
want to be effective."
The report cited Kansas and Texas as states that have acted
decisively to slow the growth of their inmate populations. Their
actions include greater use of community supervision for low-risk
offenders and using sanctions other than reimprisonment for ex-
offenders who commit technical violations of parole and probation
rules.
"The new approach, born of bipartisan leadership, is allowing the two
states to ensure they have enough prison beds for violent offenders
while helping less dangerous lawbreakers become productive, taxpaying
citizens," the report said.
While many state governments have shown bipartisan interest in
curbing prison growth, there also are persistent calls to proceed
cautiously.
"We need to be smarter," said David Muhlhausen, a criminal-justice
expert with the conservative Heritage Foundation. "We're not
incarcerating all the people who commit serious crimes — but we're
also probably incarcerating people who don't need to be."
According to the report, the inmate population increased last year in
36 states and the federal prison system.
The largest percentage increase — 12 percent — was in Kentucky, where
Gov. Steve Beshear highlighted the cost of corrections in his budget
speech last month. He noted the state's crime rate had increased only
about 3 percent in the past 30 years, while the state's inmate
population has increased by 600 percent.
The Pew report was compiled by the Center on the State's Public
Safety Performance Project, which is working with 13 states on
developing programs to divert offenders from prison without
jeopardizing public safety.
"For all the money spent on corrections today, there hasn't been a
clear and convincing return for public safety," said the project's
director, Adam Gelb. "More and more states are beginning to rethink
their reliance on prisons for lower-level offenders and finding
strategies that are tough on crime without being so tough on
taxpayers."
The nationwide figures, as of Jan. 1, include 1,596,127 people in
state and federal prisons and 723,131 in local jails — a total
2,319,258 out of almost 230 million American adults.
The report said the United States is the world's incarceration
leader, far ahead of more populous China with 1.5 million people
behind bars.
The New York Times contributed.
Oh, Great Spirit, grant that I may not criticize my neighbor until I have walked a mile in his moccasins." - Old Indian Prayer My dad told me!! |
|
Home 
