Thursday

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Editorial

Michigan must escape from rising prison costs

The Detroit News

Michigan is locking up too many people and keeping them locked up for too long. Smarter, cheaper ways must be found to punish offenders and protect the public.

As a Detroit News series on prison costs reported this week, the state's corrections system consumes a fifth of the general fund budget of more than $9.8 billion. Corrections Department workers account for one in three of the state's employees, up from 9 percent of the state workforce a quarter-century ago.

The state has about 50,000 inmates and could outstrip its prison capacity in the next two months.

The News reported that Michigan's cost per inmate is 15th highest among the states. And Michigan has moved up to the top 10 states in the share of its population behind bars. It ranks ninth, incarcerating 511 people for every 100,000 residents -- a larger number than its Midwest neighbors. It only trails states in the Deep South, Texas and Oklahoma.

Corrections costs are draining funds from other programs. Michigan, for example, has joined the small fraternity of states that spend more on prisons than on universities. Budget analysts estimate that if Michigan jailed only the same share of its population as its Midwest neighbors, the state could save up to $500 million.

But the payoff for this extraordinary investment has not been significant. The state's violent crime rate declined 13 percent between 1981 and 2006; the national rate declined 12 percent.

Michigan's sentencing and parole policies have been driven by horrific incidents. In 1990, four-time sex offender Leslie Allen Williams was released from prison. He subsequently raped and killed four teen girls. As a result, parole policy was changed.

In 2006, armed robber Patrick Selepak was mistakenly released from prison and embarked on a murder spree that took the lives of three people.

There was an immediate spike in the length of prison sentences and a drop in paroles, costing an estimated $30 million in additional corrections expenses.

Certainly, the releases of Williams and Selepak were deadly mistakes. But at almost $2 billion, Michigan's prison policy is too expensive and too important to be determined by the occasional terrible incident.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm has proposed sentencing reforms to slow the rush to imprisonment. She has also suggested releasing a number of aging or ill inmates who no longer pose a threat. So far, these ideas have not met with success in the Legislature.

Fortunately, the governor and leaders in the Legislature have agreed to work with the Justice Center of the Council of State Governments to analyze ways to cut the prison population and keep released inmates from returning to prison. This may take some time, but the state didn't get into this fix overnight.

The administration has already set up a Michigan Prisoner Reentry Initiative, which is designed to organize support services for released inmates. In her budget proposal, Granholm is recommending $110 million to support the prisoner reentry initiative and find ways to keep low-level offenders out of prison.

These are necessary steps toward bringing down corrections costs. A presentation by the Justice Center to lawmakers earlier this month showed how sentencing changes in other states allowed them to shift resources to managing parolees more effectively and still realize overall budget savings. Part of any reform program will also have to change the state's mental health code so the mentally ill don't wind up in prison so often.

Effective reforms will take hard work on the part of lawmakers whose instincts are simply to pile more prison time into the criminal code. But that approach has already been tried. It is costly, and it doesn't work.


	Thursday, April 17, 2008 Editorial Michigan must escape from rising prison costs The Detroit News Michigan is locking up too many people and keeping them locked up for too long. Smarter, cheaper ways must be found to punish offenders and protect the public. As a Detroit News series on prison costs reported this week, the state's corrections system consumes a fifth of the general fund budget of more than $9.8 billion. Corrections Department workers account for one in three of the state's employees, up from 9 percent of the state workforce a quarter-century ago. The state has about 50,000 inmates and could outstrip its prison capacity in the next two months. The News reported that Michigan's cost per inmate is 15th highest among the states. And Michigan has moved up to the top 10 states in the share of its population behind bars. It ranks ninth, incarcerating 511 people for every 100,000 residents -- a larger number than its Midwest neighbors. It only trails states in the Deep South, Texas and Oklahoma. Corrections costs are draining funds from other programs. Michigan, for example, has joined the small fraternity of states that spend more on prisons than on universities. Budget analysts estimate that if Michigan jailed only the same share of its population as its Midwest neighbors, the state could save up to $500 million. But the payoff for this extraordinary investment has not been significant. The state's violent crime rate declined 13 percent between 1981 and 2006; the national rate declined 12 percent. Michigan's sentencing and parole policies have been driven by horrific incidents. In 1990, four-time sex offender Leslie Allen Williams was released from prison. He subsequently raped and killed four teen girls. As a result, parole policy was changed. In 2006, armed robber Patrick Selepak was mistakenly released from prison and embarked on a murder spree that took the lives of three people. There was an immediate spike in the length of prison sentences and a drop in paroles, costing an estimated $30 million in additional corrections expenses. Certainly, the releases of Williams and Selepak were deadly mistakes. But at almost $2 billion, Michigan's prison policy is too expensive and too important to be determined by the occasional terrible incident. Gov. Jennifer Granholm has proposed sentencing reforms to slow the rush to imprisonment. She has also suggested releasing a number of aging or ill inmates who no longer pose a threat. So far, these ideas have not met with success in the Legislature. Fortunately, the governor and leaders in the Legislature have agreed to work with the Justice Center of the Council of State Governments to analyze ways to cut the prison population and keep released inmates from returning to prison. This may take some time, but the state didn't get into this fix overnight. The administration has already set up a Michigan Prisoner Reentry Initiative, which is designed to organize support services for released inmates. In her budget proposal, Granholm is recommending $110 million to support the prisoner reentry initiative and find ways to keep low-level offenders out of prison. These are necessary steps toward bringing down corrections costs. A presentation by the Justice Center to lawmakers earlier this month showed how sentencing changes in other states allowed them to shift resources to managing parolees more effectively and still realize overall budget savings. Part of any reform program will also have to change the state's mental health code so the mentally ill don't wind up in prison so often. Effective reforms will take hard work on the part of lawmakers whose instincts are simply to pile more prison time into the criminal code. But that approach has already been tried. It is costly, and it doesn't work.