Corrections budget topic of March 17, 2011 Symposium

 

While steep cuts are being proposed for critical services from education to revenue sharing, the Executive Budget for Fiscal Year 2012 would keep corrections virtually unchanged – at $2 billion.  Once again, corrections would consume nearly 25% of all General Fund spending.  

Debate about the FY2012 budget and policy discussions about how to reduce Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) spending while protecting pubic safety are on-going.  The Citizens Alliance on Prisons and Public Spending (CAPPS), the Citizens Research Council of Michigan (CRC) and The Center for Michigan recognized the need to provide an unbiased, non-partisan, and factual foundation for the current dialogue in Lansing. On March 17, these three organizations co-sponsored an event to provide policy makers and stakeholders with a wealth of information about how the MDOC appropriation is allocated, how it affects the overall state budget, and what options exist for reducing it. The title of the program was "Finding the Path to a $1.5 billion Corrections Budget."

“Suggestions already under consideration include strategies for lowering the prisoner population, making operations more cost-effective and containing personnel costs. To decide which options are best, it is critical to understand their parameters, their practical consequences and what their individual and cumulative cost-savings would be,” noted Barbara Levine, executive director of CAPPS.     “Three guidelines to keep in mind,” Levine suggests, “are: 

·     don’t take anything off the table unless it would actually    jeopardize public safety;

·      be willing to innovate; and,

·     above all, follow the evidence.  Demand that both proponents and opponents of every potential strategy provide the evidence that supports their positions."

 

All the materials presented at the March 17th policy symposium by the sponsoring organizations and other presenters are available for download from the CRC website http://www.crcmich.org/