THE HIGH COST OF JAILING MOTHERS

CHICAGO - At tax time it is natural to question where our tax dollars are
going and to wonder if they are being used wisely. Too much money is being
spent constructing and running prisons when cost-effective alternatives for
minor, non-violent offenses are cheaper and far more effective in reducing
crime. These alternatives are absent from the headlines because for the
most part, our policymakers have failed to use them.

This failure is a crime, in particular regarding women prisoners. The
number of women in Illinois prisons has tripled in the past 10 years. More
than two-thirds of these women were convicted of non-violent offenses, and
68 percent were first-time offenders.

Most women sent to prison last year were sentenced for Class 3 and Class 4
felonies - crimes such as shoplifting, passing bad checkes and possession
of small amounts of drugs. More than 80 percent of these women are mothers
who left behind small children.

The average Illinois taxpayer pays $1,170 a year in state personal income
tax. It costs $25,621 a year, the total tax collected from you and 20 of
your neighbors, to house one woman in Dwight Correctional Center for a
year. According to the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, each new
cell we build costs $72,479, and debt service adds $105,000 to the cost of
each new prison cell.

At least 25,000 Illinois children are affected each year. When fathers go
to prison, mothers usually keep the family intact. When mothers go to
prison, children often end up in foster care, at a cost of $20,000 per
child each year. Small children experience grief and many blame themselves
for the loss of their mother. As taxpayers we pay twice - now for the costs
of prison and foster care and later with increased risks of psychiatric
hospitalization, delinquency and eventual incarceration of prisoners'
children.

Community-based sentencing under a model called Family Unity is a solution.
In 14 states, Family Unity programs are enormously successful at preventing
repeat offenses. They keep mothers and children togehter at a cost that is
less than prison and foster care. Women complete substance-abuse treatment,
parenting and educational programs so that they re-enter the community as
productive, law-abiding citizens and better parents.

The programs are not located on prison grounds but near the women's
communities so that ties to families, the most important factor in reducing
future crimes, can be maintained. This is not "coddling" criminals; some
participants find the programs so demanding they opt for prison instead.
But those who complete the programs have the gift of a normal family life,
a vital investment in our future.

The Illinois Department of Corrections is starting a 10-bed program in
which women convicted of non-violent offenses will live in a secure
facility with their babies. Taxpayers should demand that Family Unity
programs be expanded to include all eligible parents. Otherwise, we will
keep paying for repeat offenses and the destruction of families.

Joanne Archibald
Chicago Legal Aid to Incarcerated Mothers