STUDY CONTRASTS N.Y. PRISON, EDUCATION PRIORITIES

An analysis of New York state budgets released today showed the state
has increased spending on prisons in the last decade by nearly as much
as it has decreased spending on higher education.

Spending for city and state universities has fallen since 1988 by $615
million, to $1.48 billion, while funding for the Department of
Correctional Services has risen by $761 million, to $1.76 billion,
said the study conducted by the Justice Policy Institute and the
Correctional Association of New York. Vincent Schiraldi, the study's
co-author and director of the institute, a Washington-based research
and advocacy group, described New York's budget changes as "almost a
dollar-for-dollar trade-off."

New York's spending pattern reflected a national trend of prison
expansion. States spent 30 percent more on prison budgets and 18
percent less on higher education in 1995 than they did in 1987.

"I think it can be said that when the states decided to prioritize
prisons, they deprioritized education," Schiraldi said. "When kids are
paying increased tuition, they're paying for prison operation costs,
for maintenance. They're paying for better prisons, because they're
not getting a better education."

During budget negotiations in April, New York Gov. George E. Pataki
(R) vetoed $500 million worth of public school construction and $100
million in other education initiatives. The study pointed to some of
the rejected measures -- including $7.5 million for new faculty
members at the City University of New York (CUNY), $8.8 million for
new faculty at the State University of New York (SUNY) and a $13
million increase in base aid for SUNY's community colleges -- as proof
of the "troubling shift in government priorities taking place in New
York."

In 1995, the first year New York spent more money on prisons than
universities, tuition at both SUNY and CUNY increased by 30 percent to
make up for lost funds.

The study blamed the Rockefeller drug laws, which require long prison
terms for sale or possession of small amounts of drugs, for rising
prison costs. In 1997, 62 percent of New York's incoming inmates were
nonviolent offenders. The study recommended overturning the sentencing
laws to free millions of dollars for higher education.

But Jim Flateau, a spokesman for New York State Department of
Correctional Services, said the high costs also are a result of
programs offered to inmates. "Unlike many other states, New York has a
high commitment to inmate programming," he said. "They are in school,
they are in vocational programs, they are doing work assignments. Our
cost per inmate is a lot higher than other states because of our high
commitment."

Flateau rejected the theory that dropping prison sentences for
nonviolent offenders would free large amounts of public funds.

"One of the governor's major tenets is that cells are too expensive
and scarce to be utilized by nonviolent offenders," Flateau said. "And
he's instituted appropriate alternative punishments: work-release
programs, on-site drug treatment programs. The problem is people don't
qualify their terms: Is an inmate nonviolent if this particular
offense was but he has a prior for rape?"

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady