Post by Central on Sept 29, 2010 22:15:01 GMT -5
2010
Sometimes it takes one more government study to find out what most of us already know. Such is the case with Indiana's soaring prison population. But if that's what it takes, so be it.
It is estimated that Indiana Department of Correction costs will top $1 billion within the next seven years. Since 2000, the state's prison population has increased more than 40 percent and the cost of running prisons has gone up by 76 percent to $679 million this year.
Those are extraordinary costs, particularly in an era where the amount of revenue available to government is strained, and in most cases declining. It has become a matter of doing more with less.
Indiana is paying $100,000 to the Pew Center on the States and the Council of State Governments to find ways to save money and increase public safety. The Pew Foundation will contribute up to $1 million for the research.
State Sen. Richard Bray, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, "I certainly believe in sending people to prison, but the fact remains we've come awfully close to the end of our rope on that, because the prison system is ... at capacity, and we cannot build any more prisons."
Part of the prison population problem is that state legislatures -- including Indiana's -- have increased penalties for crimes over the last few decades. That has increased prison populations. The study will look at each of Indiana's 92 counties and should be completed by the end of 2011.
Community-based programs, an area where Lake County has been one of the models for the state, will be one of the areas included in the study.
Not only do community-based programs cut state prison costs, but they help inmates transition to the general population. While we encourage the state to head in that direction, we remind the Legislature that it has the responsibility to help fund those community operations. Cutting state costs and dumping the burden on counties doesn't work.
Sometimes it takes one more government study to find out what most of us already know. Such is the case with Indiana's soaring prison population. But if that's what it takes, so be it.
It is estimated that Indiana Department of Correction costs will top $1 billion within the next seven years. Since 2000, the state's prison population has increased more than 40 percent and the cost of running prisons has gone up by 76 percent to $679 million this year.
Those are extraordinary costs, particularly in an era where the amount of revenue available to government is strained, and in most cases declining. It has become a matter of doing more with less.
Indiana is paying $100,000 to the Pew Center on the States and the Council of State Governments to find ways to save money and increase public safety. The Pew Foundation will contribute up to $1 million for the research.
State Sen. Richard Bray, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, "I certainly believe in sending people to prison, but the fact remains we've come awfully close to the end of our rope on that, because the prison system is ... at capacity, and we cannot build any more prisons."
Part of the prison population problem is that state legislatures -- including Indiana's -- have increased penalties for crimes over the last few decades. That has increased prison populations. The study will look at each of Indiana's 92 counties and should be completed by the end of 2011.
Community-based programs, an area where Lake County has been one of the models for the state, will be one of the areas included in the study.
Not only do community-based programs cut state prison costs, but they help inmates transition to the general population. While we encourage the state to head in that direction, we remind the Legislature that it has the responsibility to help fund those community operations. Cutting state costs and dumping the burden on counties doesn't work.