Pew Study Finds Imprisonment Too Costly And Ineffective

The federal government can no longer afford to incarcerate the 2.3
million in jails and prisons across the nation - another symptom of
the current financial crisis. As a result, states are beginning to
consider criminal justice and policy changes in order to save funds
and alleviate overcrowding.

New policy recommendations are designed to reduce prison and jail
populations through sentencing changes, recidivism reduction
programs, and early release modifications.

"In order to solve a problem you must work to prevent it from the
root," said junior Jossie Dowling, the project coordinator for the
Guilford Correctional Center (McLeansville) reading and discussion
group. "I believe that there are several different roots to the
overcrowding issue: globalization, the War on Drugs, and the three
strikes policy."

The War on Drugs is a prohibition campaign undertaken by the U.S.
government with the assistance of participating countries. It is
intended to reduce the illegal drug trade - to curb supply and
diminish the demand for drugs deemed immoral, harmful, dangerous, or
undesirable.

According to Dowling, the three strikes policy, which often goes
along with the War on Drugs, has unjustly put many minor offenders behind bars.

"It is essentially the idea that after committing three crimes it is
mandatory that you serve time in prison," said Dowling. "So many
different things count as felonies that people can really get screwed
if they commit three minor crimes

According to a Pew study released on March 2, one in 38 adults is
either in prison, on probation, or on parole in North Carolina.

The high number of people being locked up has consequently caused
prison and jail costs to skyrocket since the 1980s. This increase in
corrections spending only trails the increase in spending on Medicaid.

The Pew study compares data from jails and prisons over a 25-year
period and includes people under community supervision, probation and
parole in state and federal systems.

In addition to looking at the total number of people residing in
American prisons, the Pew study also observes the effects of race and
gender on prison populations.

One in 18 adult men compared to one in 89 adult women are in prison.
Among racial and ethnic groups there are also sharp differences. One
in 11 black adults, one in 27 Hispanics, and one in 45 whites is in prison.

Some students think that systemic racism in the criminal justice
system is to blame for the disproportionate number of blacks in prison.

"The fact that it's mostly black men going to prison says something
about racism in this country," said senior psychology major and
former McLeansville volunteer Sarah Craten. "There is so much
criminal profiling for African-Americans."

Other students think blaming the system takes the responsibility away
from the criminals.

"If you look at people in a group, you have to look at it as a group
of individuals choosing to do something," said senior psychology
minor Corey Nelson. "To say that (the disproportionate number of
blacks getting arrested) is due to racism takes the responsibility
off the people committing the crimes and doesn't offer a constructive
solution."

Adam Gelb, the director of the Pew Center's public safety performance
project said the study found that when states varied in how many
people they locked up, it was a result of policy choices, not crime trends.

"State policy changes got us here and a new round of changes can get
us out," said Gelb.

The issue of prison overcrowding and budget cuts has spurred serious
debate about America's priorities during difficult financial times.

The $80 a day spent to house an inmate, compared to the less
expensive $3.50 to $7.50 a day for probation and parole, has led
states to begin to explore less expensive alternatives to prison.

Some Guilford students believe that changing drug laws will lower the
prison population.

"(The solution is) to end the Drug War, and by that I mean possession
of any amount or type of drug should be legalized," said Nelson.
"It's not like the federal government had a bake sale to raise the
money. They're taking your money and spending it on the drug war."

Dowling's experience at McLeansville has also led her to conclude
that the War on Drugs is at least partially responsible for
overcrowded prisons.

"Most of the inmates at McLeansville are in prison for drug-related
crimes," said Dowling. "Furthermore, the War on Drugs arrests and
imprisons low level drug dealers, which there happen to be more of,
rather than high level drug kings/lords. So really it does very
little to get drugs off the streets. Not to mention, most of those
low-level dealers are young black men between the ages of 18 and 35."

Some states, including North Carolina, have chosen drug
rehabilitation programs over prison for some drug offenders. Others
have begun to defer sentences in hopes of prison openings.

One possible cut under consideration in North Carolina is the $9.8
million spent on local mental health treatment, drug treatment
courts, and day reporting centers for people on probation, suggested
by Governor Bev Purdue.

According to Gelb, every program should get a hard look if it can't
show that it is working well. But if programs that help keep people
from prison work, it makes sense to increase their funding-not decrease it.

"We need better mental rehabilitation programs," said Craten.
"Prisons have become the new asylums. A lot of people commit crimes
so they can go to prison because there are better services in prisons
than in regular society. You have to ask yourself what we aren't
providing these people in society that leads them to committing these crimes. "