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Saturday, May 3, 2008
Mich. prison costs could
reach $500M
25% larger price tag in
four years predicted if
inmate population keeps
increasing.
Gary Heinlein and
Charlie Cain / Detroit News
Lansing Bureau
LANSING --
Michigan's $2 billion prison
system will cost another
$500 million in four years
-- a 25 percent increase --
unless policymakers can
reduce the number of
lawbreakers who end up
behind bars.
That's one conclusion
from a new report on the
state corrections system by
the respected Citizens
Research Council of
Michigan, which projects the
50,200-inmate population
will swell by 5,800 in that
time.
The report was unveiled
on Friday at a meeting of
about 100 prison experts who
sought answers to the
question: Can we reduce
prison spending and protect
residents?
Matthew Johnson, a fellow
at the council, said
corrections officials have
reduced the number of
inmates entering prison, but
once in, they stay about a
year longer than the
national average. In
addition, costs for health
care, utilities and wages
"are growing at a faster
rate than they have
historically," he said.
Neither Johnson nor the
rest of the participants
endorsed a particular way of
getting a handle on prison
costs. They exchanged such
ideas as diverting substance
abusers and mentally ill
offenders into non--prison
programs, generally agreeing
the state can't afford the
kind of added spending the
Citizens Research Council
projects.
But Eaton County
Prosecutor Jeffrey Sauter,
past president of the County
Prosecuting Attorneys
Association of Michigan,
looks at the issue
differently. He said all of
the discussion failed to
consider crime victims.
Sauter recounted tragic
cases familiar to him,
including a parolee who
killed a homemaker he found
at home baking cookies: "She
was tied up with an
electrical cord and shot
with her husband's shotgun,"
he said. He said Michigan's
violent crime rate of 34 per
100,000 residents is above
that of surrounding states,
and its prison incarceration
rate -- 22 percent of all
people convicted of felonies
-- is below the national
average. Policymakers
shouldn't simply decide to
save money by keeping more
criminals out of prison, he
said.
"We live in a democracy,"
he said in a subsequent
interview. "Give citizens
all the facts and they'll
make the decision about how
much we want to spend on
corrections versus such
areas as higher education
and roads."
You can reach Gary
Heinlein at (517) 371-3660
or
gheinlein@detnews.com. |
