BEING TOUGH ON CRIME DOESN'T COME CHEAP

If you follow taxes and budget matters - and you should - you've probably
heard the sound bite that if trends continue, we soon will spend more of
our state budget on corrections than on the UW System.

Gov. Jim Doyle's proposed fiscal year 2005 budget would spend $831 million
on the UW System and $792 million on corrections.

The obvious rub is that a society that spends more to keep people locked up
than it does on its public universities is in trouble and/or has its
priorities messed up.

If only it were that simple.

A prison-building binge in Wisconsin still has not kept up with "demand,"
resulting in more than 21,000 adult state inmates, including 2,500 being
held in other states. This is in addition to the thousands being held on
county lockups.

Closer to home, a recent Leader-Telegram article by reporter Julian Emerson
outlined problems caused by overcrowding in the Eau Claire County Jail,
including 16 injuries to jail staff last year trying to restrain inmates.

Sheriff Ron Cramer said 28 jailers have resigned the past five years, many
saying unsafe working conditions were the major factor.

Officials say county inmates have become more violent, and rising jail
numbers increase the likelihood of trouble.

And it is expected to worsen as the average daily inmate population grows
to a projected 366 by 2007, above the jail's capacity of 334.

Being "tough on crime" is always a sure winner in political campaigns. So
it was also with the state's truth in sentencing legislation that grew out
of public concern about criminals being sentenced to lengthy prison terms
only to be released far earlier.

What we've found is that being tough on crime is expensive. More inmates
serving longer sentences requires more staff, more cells and more training.
That's why the state corrections budget has increased 51 percent in the
last five years and why the Eau Claire County Jail is becoming a
budget-buster locally, having grown from an average of 123 inmates in 1997
to 243 last year.

State Sen. Ron Brown, R-Eau Claire, acknowledged the rising cost of
corrections is hurting efforts to control state spending.

He suggested forming a committee to study such things as the wisdom of
putting some drug users behind bars "at a very high cost," as well as why a
higher percentage of blacks are in state jails and prisons.

So many factors affect the prison population. Their upbringing, education
(or lack thereof), the economy, society's frustration with repeat
offenders, drugs and alcohol, and mostly the choices made by the criminals
themselves.

Nobody likes the idea of a skyrocketing corrections budget and a stagnant
UW System budget that includes large tuition increases. But unless we want
to "decriminalize" certain behaviors or cut some prison sentences, there
are few short-term solutions other than throwing more tax money at the problem.

Long-term, the obvious goal is to change the criminals' behavior. But
trying to do that in a meaningful way is a monumental task, and it sure as
heck isn't going to fit into a campaign ad sound bite.