News - Cost of Incarceration

New report slams prison privatization - Cost of Incarceration
Editorial - Email at Public Values Website - November 2nd, 2011

NEW YORK, NY: The American Civil Liberties Union released a new report providing the first comprehensive analysis of the destructive impact of prison privatization.

Napa Ahead of Curve on Jail Reassignment - Cost of Incarceration
By the Staff of Napa Valley Register - Email at News Website - October 23rd, 2011

When they do come, and as new inmates get sentenced locally, our correctional system will be well prepared.

Volunteers shine hope into Tennessee prisons - Cost of Incarceration
By Andy Humbles - Email ahumbles@tennessean.com - October 23rd, 2011

They use their time, money to reclaim lives gone astray. Prison volunteers like Joelton’s Bonni Skipworth and Hermitage’s Linda Knott go into the 14 state prisons on their own time and expense to work with roughly 20,000 inmates.

Jail Blitz: Will Common Sense Finally Win the Day? - Cost of Incarceration
By Ron Jenkins - Email ron.jenkins@insightbb.com - October 22nd, 2011

If common sense is applied -- along with simple arithmetic -- you'd think that state Department of Corrections officials, as well as our elected state officials, would see the merit in utilizing qualified county jails to house eligible state prisoners, many nearing the end of their sentence.

The Optimistic Futurist: Inmate education cuts crime, prison costs - Cost of Incarceration
By Dr. Francis Koster - Email Fran@FrancisKoster.com - October 16th, 2011

In Florida, one successful program teaches inmates how to keep bees. Nineteen inmates were trained by a national expert in hive management. To cite another example, in North Carolina, the Community Culinary School of Charlotte (CCSC) trains an annual average of 50 former prisoners, recovering drug addicts and other hard core unemployables, to be chefs and cooks with astonishing success.

California Begins Moving Prison Inmates - Cost of Incarceration
By Jennifer Medina - Email at New York Times website - October 8th, 2011

The shift of prisoners to county facilities began Monday, and state officials expect to satisfy the Supreme Court’s mandate by June 2013.

Brown County Jail bills inmates for incarceration but rarely collects - Cost of Incarceration
By Charles Davis - Email at cedavis@greenbaypressgazette.com - October 1, 2011

Incarcerated are charged $20 per day they are housed.

Prison early release program saving Mississippi millions - Cost of Incarceration
By Elizabeth Crisp - Email elizabeth.crisp@clarionledger.com - October 1, 2011

Mississippi corrections officials have saved about $5 million in seven years by releasing 89 terminally ill inmates to their homes or other care facilities.

Judge Stops Florida's Plan to Privatize 29 State Prisons - Cost of Incarceration
By Lizette Alvarez - Email from NY Times Website - September 30, 2011

MIAMI — A state judge ruled on Friday that it was unconstitutional for the Florida Legislature to attach a far-reaching proposal to “the hidden recesses” of an appropriations bill.

State task force seeks to lower prison costs - Cost of Incarceration
By Rudi Keller - Email rkeller@columbiatribune.com - August 24th, 2011

Price, who has strongly advocated programs that keep nonviolent offenders out of prisons, said there is no alternative to prison for violent and “career” criminals.

Resolution calls for feds to pay Oklahoma's cost of incarcerating illegal immigrants - Cost of Incarceration
By Randy Ellis - Email rellis@opubco.com - July 30th, 2011

The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board wants the federal government to start paying the full cost of incarcerating illegal immigrants in the state prison system.

Minnesota shutdown adds stress to prisons - Cost of Incarceration
By Todd Melby - Email from Website - July 15th, 2011

The 1,600 or so men who live at Minnesota's Stillwater prison aren't getting much exercise these days.

Half of Pa.'s inmates are rejailed within 5 years - Cost of Incarceration
By Mensah M. Dean - deanm@phillynews.com - July 5, 2011

The revolving prison door costs taxpayers a staggering amount.

Portman leads effort to reduce recidivism - Cost of Incarceration
By Jessica Alaimo - jalaimo@centralohio.com - July 3rd, 2011

Both parties on the state and federal levels have agreed prisons can be a significant source of savings for taxpayers.

Cutting prison costs can lessen budget deficit - Cost of Incarceration
By Ronald Fraser - Email fraserr@erols.com - June 17th, 2011

Early release options - that have to be earned - for thousands of nonviolent prisoners held behind bars at great expense.

Rethink Prison Cuts - Cost of Incarceration
By Jeff Gerritt - Email jgerritt@freepress.com - June 16, 2011

Education programs offer inmates hope and save state in long run.

True cost of drugs: More than half of inmates currently in U.S. federal prisons were convicted of narcotics offences - Cost of Incarceration
By Staff - Email Daily Mail Reporter website - June 12, 2011

The National Association of Criminal Defence Lawyers concluded after a two-year study that national standards must be developed to deal with drug offenders, and the role of drug courts should be reduced in favour of more treatment programmes.

Holder Does the Right Thing on Crack Cocaine - Cost of Incarceration
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson - Email from New America Media website - June 6, 2011

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder took another step forward in trying to right a horrendous wrong in the long running drug-reform fight.

If prison costs rob education, what then? - Cost of Incarceration
By Tom Reifer - Email from Signonsandiego.com website - May 29, 2011

California’s mass incarceration boom, the nation’s largest, saw prisoners increase from 25,000 in 1980 to some 143,000 today.

ANALYSIS: Keeping Calif. inmate population at court-ordered levels will be difficult - Cost of Incarceration
By Jack Dolan and Carol J. Williams - Email at L.A. Times Website - May 29, 2011

Even if Brown finds a way to implement his plan, experts say, the prisons could still become overcrowded. Some inmates are serving life sentences for stealing a $2 pair of socks or $20 work gloves, Romano said.

California must cut prison population by 33,000 - Cost of Incarceration
By Bob Egelko - Email from Chronicle website - May 23, 2011

A federal judge found in 2006 that shoddy prison health care in California was responsible for the death of one inmate a week, Kennedy noted.

Proposed prison cuts will cost long run - Cost of Incarceration
Detroit Free Press - Email from website - May 23, 2011

With 44,000 prisoners in 34 prisons, Michigan is one of only four states that spend more on prisons than higher education, and it surely should aim to spend less.

Helping ex-inmates can but prison costs - Cost of Incarceration
By Barbara Richards - Email from Herald Tribune website - May 19, 2011

Florida currently incarcerates more than 100,000 individuals, 45,000 of whom have been in the state prison system before. About 14,000 have been in prison three times or more.

Santa Cruz County leaders push for jail reform in light of state budget crisis - Cost of Incarceration
By Stephen Baxter - sbaxter@santacruzsentinel.com - May 18, 2011

Ultimately, they hope to save tax dollars and improve public safety.

Recidivism’s High Cost and a Way to Cut It - Cost of Incarceration
The New York Times Editorial - Email from website - April 27, 2011

Corrections costs for the states have quadrupled in the last 20 years — to about $52 billion a year nationally — making prison spending their second-fastest growing budget item after Medicaid.

Effort to privatize Florida prisons raises questions of cost - Cost of Incarceration
By Scott Hiaasen- email from Miami Herald website - April 24, 2011

Do private prisons really save Florida taxpayers money? And if so, how much cheaper are they?

Fixing the Mistake With Young Offenders - Cost of Incarceration
The New York Times Editorial - Email from website - April 3, 2011

In the last five years, the authors say, 15 states have passed nearly 30 pieces of legislation aimed at reversing policies that funnel a quarter of a million children into the adult justice system each year.

Fixing the Mistake With Young Offenders - Cost of Incarceration
The New York Times Editorial - Email from website - April 3, 2011

In the last five years, the authors say, 15 states have passed nearly 30 pieces of legislation aimed at reversing policies that funnel a quarter of a million children into the adult justice system each year.

Priorities clash as states move people out of prison while cutting programs to keep them out - Cost of Incarceration
The Associated Press Editorial - Email from website - April 3, 2011

After two decades of “lock ‘em up and throw away the key” thinking, states were starting to adopt new policies.

Bill urged to find new ways to reduce prison population - Cost of Incarceration
By Timothy McNulty - Email tmcnulty@post-gazette.com - April 02, 2011

Some 40 percent of the prison population is there for nonviolent offenses, Mr. Wagner said, and keeping them out of the prison system through sentencing reforms could save up to $350 million over four years, partially through halting new prison construction.

Oklahoma's low parole rate costing taxpayers - Cost of Incarceration
By Ginnie Graham - Email ginnie.graham@tulsaworld.com - March 24, 2011

If the parole rate were upped to 20 percent approval, the cost savings would be about $9.7 million the first year.

Criminal justice changes needed - Cost of Incarceration
By DON MILLICAN - Email from website - March 12, 2011

Oklahoma can be proud of many things. Oklahoma's criminal justice system is not one of those things.

The best idea in Obama's budget (Hint: It's not a cut) - Cost of Incarceration
By Paul Light - Email from Washington Post website - February 18, 2011

If done well, social impact bonds may be the best idea to come along for improving performance in decades. Obama deserves credit for bringing it forward. Soon it will be up to private investors to put their money in play.

Investments in at-risk children can save taxpayers millions, according to audit - Cost of Incarceration
By Editor - news@empirestatenews.net - Feb 14, 2011

NEW YORK - Programs focusing on at-risk children have proven effective at reducing the rates of juvenile violence and incarceration, according to a report released today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

States Seek Prison Breaks - Cost of Incarceration
By Gary Fields And Nathan Koppel - nathan.koppel@wsj.com - Feb 8, 2011

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.

At This Garage Sale, the Goal Is Freedom - Cost of Incarceration
By Trey Bundy - tbundy@baycitizen.org - Jan 27, 2011

Mr. Corpuz said he needed to raise $25 a day so he could pay a lawyer to help a woman he barely knows get out of prison.

'Daddy, Read for Me' - Cost of Incarceration
By FERNANDA SANTOS - Email from website - December 24, 2010

Eight men at the Eric M. Taylor Center — one of nine jails on Rikers Island — who completed a five-week literacy course this fall called “Daddy and Me,” in which they recorded themselves reading children’s books for the sons and daughters they had left behind. It was the first time such a program had been tried at Rikers, though there have been many similar efforts, most focusing on female inmates in prisons across the country, since at least 1996.

Annual cost for Iowa prisoner stands at $31,500 - Cost of Incarceration
By Douglas Burns - No Email - November 22, 2010

This morning, the prisoner count in the Iowa Department of Corrections, the state’s prison system, stood at 8,907 convicts. It’s an expensive operation when one considers that the average annual cost to house an inmate is $31,500 — $86.35 a day to be exact.
And the money comes from us, the taxpayers. “It’s not like we have a very effective alumni association,” quipped Art Neu, the Carroll attorney who is the vice chairman of the state’s Board of Corrections, which oversees the prison system.
Neu knows the prisons as well as anyone on the outside can. He’s visited all of the prisons, several of them multiple times, often with the Daily Times Herald in tow. A few weeks ago, Neu led a group of Carroll Rotarians to the Fort Dodge Correctional facility.
Neu, a former lieutenant governor and state senator, followed that afternoon-long tour up with a presentation to the Rotary jammed with facts and figures on the process of running prisons. Neu is a longtime advocate for more community-based corrections and a vastly different process for treating non-violent offenders with substance-abuse problems.
The system is now literally overflowing. A January Department of Corrections “quick facts” sheet forecasted that the prison population would be 9,025. Iowa’s just 118 inmates from that as the words flow off my computer keyboard now.

As it stands the prison system is overcrowded by 24 percent.

State prisons on lockdown for a day to save money - Cost of Incarceration
By Seattle Times staff - No Email - November 16, 2010

In a cost-cutting move, inmates in eight state prisons are under a one-day lockdown Tuesday so the state can save some money. Blame it on furloughs. During lockdowns, fewer correction employees are needed for such things such as recreation and education programs, said Chad Lewis, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections. Staff costs are the biggest savings in the lockdown, he said. All offenders will remain in their cells all day, except during meals. The lockdowns will continue once a month until the end of June. "This is just one of many unprecedented steps we're taking to reduce spending and help the state overcome a historic budget crisis," Prisons Director Bernie Warner said in a news release. "We will be adequately staffed to operate the prisons safely. Offenders just won't have access to programs, education or work."

Taxpayer bill at Fort Madison prison: $40,598 per inmate annually - Cost of Incarceration
By William Petroski - bpetrosk@dmreg.com - November 11, 2010

Housing convicts in Iowa’s prison system isn’t cheap, according to a new report by the Iowa Legislative Services Agency. At the Iowa State Penitentiary at Fort Madison, where the state’s most dangerous inmates are incarcerated, the annual cost per prisoner during the past fiscal year was $40,598 each. The average daily population was 1,055 offenders. Ground was broken earlier this year on a new Fort Madison maximum-security prison that will cost about $131 million. Work has also begun on a $68 million expansion and renovation project at the Mitchellville state women’s prison. State appropriations to the Iowa Department of Corrections represent about 6.2 percent of the state’s overall general fund budget, the report said. Iowa’s prison population has been trending upward, the report noted. On Sept. 29, 2009, Iowa’s prisons held 8,384 offenders. On Sept. 29, 2010, the prison population totaled 8,730. A state prison population forecast projects a growth of 5 percent over the next decade.

Audit: Private Prisons Cost Slightly More - Cost of Incarceration
By Sarah Buduson - sbuduson@kpho.com - November 3, 2010

PHOENIX: A state audit of the Arizona Department of Corrections found private prisons cost taxpayers more money per inmate. The audit report says housing a medium-custody inmate at a private prison costs $55.89 per day. The daily cost of housing the same inmate at a state facility was calculated at $48.13 a day.
Arizona spends 11.2 percent of its budget on the Department of Corrections. The prisons budget makes up a higher percentage of Arizona's budget than spending on colleges and universities.

County looks to improve criminal monitoring; state eyes prison solution - Cost of Incarceration
By DOROTHY SCHNEIDER - dschneider@jconline.com - September 13, 2010

Home detention programs are earning more attention here and across the nation as states and local governments face shrinking budgets and work to tackle incarceration costs. And Tippecanoe County's program recently received an upgrade, making it easier -- on officers and taxpayers -- to electronically monitor criminals. The county signed on with Elmo Tech, Inc., in August and is implementing new devices and software, including global positioning system technology and other remote devices. Dave Heath, Community Corrections executive director, estimates the system will save the county about $45,000 in the first year.

Aging inmates straining prison systems - Cost of Incarceration
By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS - No Email - August 16, 2010

Curtis Ballard rides a motorized wheelchair around his prison ward, which happens to be the new assisted living unit — a place of many windows and no visible steel bars — at Washington's Coyote Ridge Corrections Center. A stroke left Ballard unable to walk. He's also had a heart attack and he underwent a procedure to remove skin cancer from his neck. At 77, he's been in prison since 1993 for murder. He has 14 years left on his sentence. "I'd be a burden on my kids," said the native Texan. "I'd rather be a burden to these people."

DOC prison goes "green" - Cost of Incarceration
By Alyssa Kleven - feedback@mynorthwest.com - August 12, 2010

The Department of Corrections has announced that its newest prison, Coyote Ridge, will be "green," from its construction to its day-to-day operations. While the new "green" prison is on budget for the cost of what any non-green prison would be, the savings will likely come from the lower cost of operations.

Prison reform - The will and the way - Cost of Incarceration
By Julie Delcour - julie.delcour@tulsaworld.com - August 1, 2010

The day that powerful Democrats and Republicans alike support more alternatives to incarceration is the day Oklahoma has turned the corner on reducing its outsized prison population.