States Save Billions by Downsizing Prisons

This is the first of four posts on America’s scandalous prison industrial complex. I start with the good news. Thanks to the budget crisis most states have faced since the 2008 economic crash, US prison populations have shrunk by 600,000.

States Save Billions by Downsizing Prisons

An important silver lining of the 2008 economic downturn has been a decline in the US incarceration rate. Despite two decades of declining violent and property crime rates, the US still enjoys the highest incarceration rate (500 per 100,000 population) in the world. Nevertheless, thanks to the recession-related budget crisis in 48 state capitols, America’s prison population has started to fall. According to CBS News, between 2009 and 2012, it fell from a peak of 2.2 million to 1.57 million.

In 2013 prison populations rose slightly (there were an estimated 1,574,700 inmates on December 31, 2013 – an increase of 4,300 prisoners).

What explains this overall decline in prison occupancy? Between 2008 and mid-2013* every state except Montana and North Dakota faced yearly budget shortfalls. Because states aren’t allowed to run deficits, most had to make substantial cuts in “essential” state programs, including education, housing, highway maintenance and repair – and most importantly prisons.

In 2010, the last time such costs were calculated, the average annual cost of incarceration was $28,000 – $40,000 per inmate.

This definite budget breaker has led 26 states to resist lobbing by private prison operators such as Corrections Corporation of America, Wackenhut, Cornell Corrections and their friends at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and enact legislation to reduce prison numbers.

California’s Criminal Justice Realignment Act

California clearly leads the nation in this initiative. When the US Supreme Court (in May 2011) upheld a lower court ruling ordering them to reduce prison overcrowding, Sacramento had the hard choice between borrowing money to build more prisons, paying private prisons in other states to take their offenders or adopting the Criminal Justice Realignment Act. This legislation works to move nonviolent offenders out of the prison system, as well as finding alternatives to custodial sentences for new nonviolent offenders. Under the Realignment Act, the number of inmates in California prisons has dropped by 25,000 since 2011. The count of offenders on parole is down about 30,000, and prisoners held in private out-of-state prisons is down 10 percent.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation estimates that it saves $1.5 billion a year through realignment and will save another $2.2 billion a year by canceling $4.1 billion in new construction projects.

25 Other States Work to Cut Prison Populations

According to the ACLU and NORML, 25 other states are saving money by cutting and/or slowing the growth of their prison populations. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia are working to to reduce their incarceration of nonviolent offenders by decriminalizing marijuana.*

• Alabama – passed law allowing a sentencing commission to set new guidelines for nonviolent crimes.
• Alaska – decriminalized marijuana
• Colorado – shut down large penitentiary in view of falling crime rates and passed a ballot initiative in 2012 legalizing marijuana use for recreational purposes.
• Connecticut – became 17th state to repeal death penalty in April 2012, as well as decriminalizing marijuana.
• District of  Columbia – decriminalized marijuana.
• Florida – closed eight prisons that were built in anticipation of a crime wave that never occurred
• Georgia – passed bill reducing sentences for low level drug offenses and theft, creates drug and mental illness courts and establishes graduated sanctions, such as community service, for probation violations.
• Hawaii – passed law requiring the use of risk assessments in pretrial and parole hearings, to enable the identification of individuals who pose the most risk to public safety, as well as those who can be safely supervised outside of prison or jail.
• Illinois – passed SB 2621, reinstating a program that allows prisoners to reduce their sentences through good behavior and participation in reentry programs. The bill also provides incentives for prisoners to participate in programs, such as drug treatment, that reduce recidivism.
• Kansas – passed a law allowing judges to divert individuals convicted of low-level crimes from prison to less expensive and more effective substance abuse treatment.
• Louisiana – passed one law allowing prisoners serving life sentences for nonviolent crimes to go before a parole board to prove they are ready for release and another allowing inmates who have committed repeat low-level offenses to appear before a parole board after serving one-third of their sentences.
• Maine – decriminalized marijuana
• Maryland – passed a law increasing the number of offenses that must/can be charged via citation instead of arrest and detention.
• Massachusetts – decriminalized marijuana
• Minnesota – decriminalized marijuana
• Mississippi – decriminalized marijuana
• Missouri – passed one law reducing disparity for crack and powder cocaine offenses and another sending fewer people back to prison for technical violations of probation and parole, such as a missed meeting or failed drug test.
• Nebraska – decriminalized marijuana
• Nevada – decriminalized marijuana
• New York – decriminalized marijuana
• North Carolina – decriminalized marijuana
• Ohio – decriminalized marijuana
• Oregon – decriminalized marijuana
• Rhode Island – decriminalized marijuana
• Vermont – decriminalized marijuana
• Washington State – created the LEAD program, which diverts individuals charged with low-level offenses into community-based services, such as drug treatment, immediately after arrest and before booking. Also passed a ballot initiative in November 2012 legalizing recreational marijuana.

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*In 2013, increasing tax revenues enabled all but two states (Washington and California), to balance their budgets without major cuts.
**In most instances decriminalization means no prison time or criminal record for first-time possession of a small amount for personal consumption. Instead the offense is treated like a minor traffic violation.

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The Cato Institute and the Drug War

A visit to the Cato Institute website can be a mind bending experience. Imagine my astonishment on discovering that that my views on drug reform are virtually identical to those of an conservative think tank.

The Cato Institute’s position is that the US should legalize – not decriminalize – all addictive drugs. They justify their viewpoint based on two comprehensive studies: the 2010 Drug Prohibition White Paper by Miron and Waldcock and the 2009 Drug Decriminalization in Portugal. by Glenn Greenwald (that’s right, the same  progressive Guardian columnist who first published whistleblower Edward Snowden’s NSA revelations in 2013).

An $88 Billion Windfall for Taxpayers

In addition to citing numerous studies showing that criminalization of drug abuse worsens the drug problem, the White Paper calculates that the US could save $41.3 billion dollars from legalizing addictive drugs, as well as collecting an additional $46.7 billion in revenue from regulating and taxing drugs of addiction. The difference between legalization and decriminalization is that drug smugglers and suppliers are still prosecuted under decriminalization. This, according to Cato, makes full legalization more beneficial to taxpayers, as permitting legal production and distribution of drugs allows them to be taxed.

The following is a brief breakdown of the financial benefits of drug legalization:

Savings

• State and local savings: $25.7 billion
• Federal savings: $15.6 billion
• Savings from legalizing marijuana: $8.7 billion
• Savings from legalizing other drugs of addiction: $32.6 billion

Tax Revenue

• Projected revenue from taxing marijuana: $8.7 billion
• Projected revenue from taxing other drugs of addiction: $38 billion

 

The Portuguese Experiment with Decriminalization

Drug Decriminalization in Portugal describes the Portuguese experiment with decriminalizing all addictive drugs in 2001. According to Greenwald, full legalization wasn’t an option, owing to international treaties Portugal had signed. Under the 2001 law, police issue citations to addicts, rather than arresting them. They then have 72 hours to report to a Dissuasion Commission, which can order a range of sanctions, including “absolution” (a finding that no drug abuse has occurred), a verbal warning, suspension of drivers and professional licenses, bans on visiting high risk locales or associating with known drug abusers, on-going monitoring for proof of abstinence, prohibition against foreign travel and suspension of welfare benefits.

Outcome studies show that the new law has resulted in surge in drug treatment in Portugal. Prior to 2001, the main barrier to treatment was addicts’ fear of arrest and prosecution. There has also been a clear reduction in drug abuse in the pre-adolescents and adolescents – a formative age group for behavioral patterns that are key determinants of future drug abuse.

The prediction by law and order proponents that decriminalization would lead to a massive increase in drug abuse never eventuated. Portuguese drug abuse rates, once among the highest in Europe, are now among the lowest. The other dire prediction, that druggies from all over Europe would flock to Portugal to get loaded, also proved unfounded. As of 2006, 95% of drug abusers receiving citations were Portuguese and 0% were from other European Union countries.

Cato, by the way, has found a way to save taxpayers another $180 billion by legalizing 8.3 million illegal immigrants. Go figure.

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Obama Quietly Legalizes Marijuana

Justice Department Agrees Not to Challenge State Marijuana Laws

According to Yahoo News, the Obama administration quietly legalized marijuana use in September – at least in states with medical and recreational marijuana laws.

In an abrupt about face, Deputy Attorney General James Cole notified all 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices that states with recreational and medical marijuana laws can now let people use it, grow it under license, and purchase it from retail facilities — so long as possession is prohibited in minors and it doesn’t end up on federal property or in the hands of gangs and criminal enterprises. Other high priority enforcement areas include prevention of drugged driving, the use of state-authorized marijuana activity as a cover for trafficking other illegal drugs, and the use of firearms in marijuana cultivation or distribution.

The memo elaborated that all states legalizing marijuana will be expected to enact rigorous regulatory regimes. If they fail to do so, the Justice Department will respond by challenging their regulatory structure, rather than prosecuting marijuana users – as they have done in the past.

A great victory for states rights, the move will boost legalization initiatives in states where marijuana is still illegal. Possession remains a felony offense in only 16 states. In the other 34 states, marijuana use has either been decriminalized or reduced to a misdemeanor. In Washington and Colorado, both possession and sales became legal (by voter initiative) last November.

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Reposted from Veterans Today