Treat non-violent inmates, instead of warehousing

Published: November 27, 2009

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Pennsylvania's plan to contract with other states to hold our inmates in their prisons could prove to be a cost-effective short-term solution for overcrowded prisons. But it's also a call to be more creative in reducing the size of the prison population.

Innovation is a concept that applies to counties as well, including Bradford County.

Early in 2010 the state Department of Corrections hopes to negotiate contracts with other states that would result in the transfer of up to 2,000 inmates. None of the states under consideration - Kansas, Nevada, Oklahoma, Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia - have borders with Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania's prison system has 51,000 inmates and a capacity of 44,000, according to testimony at a recent state Senate hearing. Some of the excess is absorbed by county jails and makeshift temporary quarters inside state prisons.

For about a decade corrections has been the fastest growing part of the state budget. In 2000 the prison population was about 37,000. Now, it costs about $30,000 per year for each inmate, driving the prison budget to about $2 billion.

And the state plans to construct four new prisons to house 8,000 more inmates, two on the site of the old Graterford Prison in Montgomery County and one each in Centre and Fayette counties. Construction costs will be $800 million.

New prison construction is the single most expensive option. While examining short-term options, lawmakers also need to examine long-term innovations to not simply house the inmate population but reduce its size.

Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Baird testified last week that more than half of the inmates in state prisons are non-violent offenders convicted of property and drug crimes. He and others advocated less expensive options that are better not only for taxpayers but for inmates' prospects of rehabilitation.

Community treatment programs are far less expensive than incarceration in the first place, and they are far more effective in reducing recidivism - a key driver of prison costs.

Lawmakers should be looking not simply at housing inmates but creating fewer of them. They should embrace community programs, especially access to drug treatment.

In recent years, in the face of public pressure, and under new leadership on the Bradford County Board of commissioners, the county has made some progress in establishing alternative forms of sentencing for non-violent offenders. More can be done.

The expanded correctional facility is well under capacity and the county has renewed its exploration of housing prisoners from outside the county. However, prisons should not be a leading growth industry; prisoners should not be a growing state export or county import.

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2 posted comments

The news article and George are right, It is interesting what a little responsible leadership in Bradford County can do, even UNDER the dome, when they fly in the face of the kingdom builders. TOO bad we ppl couldn't have seen this sooner AND DONE EVEN MORE an election or two ago to correct it. WE worry so-o-o about our country AND don't pay enough attention to our own county and the abuses within it that go untethered. Remember keep at least one eye open,or if "THEY" don't get ya' the crows might.... WHEW.. MUST be the tainted cooler water!!!
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"loco lady",  11/27/09 8:15
Having a nagging problem and repeatedly doing something in response to it, something which does not resolve the problem, is called an addiction.

Generally speaking, drug users have treatable emotional wounds which they are personally medicating with illegal drugs. Drugs alleviate the emotional pain for the moment, the symptoms, but don't rid the user of the underlying cause of the pain. In many if not most cases, competent counseling and mental health care does resolve the underlying issues. Most of these people are not willful law breakers, incorrigibles. Most illegal drug users are victims of emotional abuse somewhere in their past.

It is estimated that 95% of inmates have mental health problems. Many of these are treatable.

Incarcerating non-violent illegal users is, likewise, treating the symptom and not a cure for the underlying problem. We, as a society, are willing to pay billions to house and punish users, but when they are released, they and we still have the same problems. Isn't this a societal addiction to locking up people when it only feels good for the moment and doesn't really solve the underlying problem?

Treatment is so much cheaper and more effective.

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George Vivino-Hintze,  11/27/09 1:38