PDF: >THE PEW CENTER - Final Report
One in every 46 adult Virginians is in prison or jail or on probation or parole -- more than double the 1 in 108 in 1982, says a new study of the nation's correctional systems.
The cost, according to The PEW Center on the States, is now $1.25 billion, or 7.6 percent of Virginia's general fund spending for the year that ended last June. And Virginia ranks just 41st among the states, things are bleaker elsewhere.
In the recently-concluded General Assembly session, lawmakers also rejected Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's proposal to let the Department of Corrections release nonviolent inmates 90 days early instead of 30 days as a way to save money.
The PEW study, released this morning, shows that nationally, 1 in 31 adults are under some form of correctional supervision -- including 1 for every 11 adult black males -- at an annual cost of more than $50 billion.
Spending on corrections is second only to Medicaid as the fastest growing segment of state budgets.
The report says the current budget crises faced by states offers an opportunity to change corrections policies and relay more on probation and parole and less on the more expensive prisons and jails.
Chronic and violent offenders belong behind bars, says the report and recent decades of prison building has cut violent crime. But, the report concludes, "we are well past the point of diminishing returns, where more imprisonment will prevent less and less crime.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement