Budget woes prompt states to rethink prison policy

236 students: Read this story and consider how you would assign a dollar benefit to such things as public safety and inmate rehabilitation. What are those things worth, in dollars and cents? You need to figure that out in order to comprehensively analyze the costs and benefits of prison-policy reform.

Even before the recent financial meltdown, policy-makers in most states were wrestling with ways to contain corrections costs. The Pew Center's Public Safety Performance Project has projected that state and federal prison populations — under current policies — will grow by more than 190,000 by 2011, to about 1.7 million, at a cost to the states of $27.5 billion.

The Council of State Government's Justice Center has been working with 10 states to develop options for curbing prison populations without jeopardizing public safety. Tactics used in Texas and Kansas have included early release for inmates who complete specified programs, more sophisticated community supervision of offenders, and expanded treatment and diversion programs.

via The Associated Press: Budget woes prompt states to rethink prison policy.