Out of Prison:

PROGRAMS AIM TO KEEP INMATES FROM RETURNING

Michigan's prisons have become revolving doors at an alarming rate.
Roughly half of the nearly 12,000 inmates released every year are sent
back.

Recidivism rates have risen since the early 1990s, when less than 30
percent of those leaving prison were returned. Repeat inmates have
pushed up Michigan's prison population from 34,000 in 1990 to nearly
50,000 today.

Michigan must reduce recidivism rates if it hopes to limit, or even
lower, its prison population and control the $1.7-billion corrections
budget. Releasing ill-prepared inmates without money, jobs, or even
places to live is a prescription for failure. Each returning offender
costs taxpayers $30,000 a year in prison.

That's why the Department of Corrections plans to ask the Legislature
for about $6 million for re-entry programs, piloted in eight regions,
which are designed to help parolees adjust to life after prison. They
include halfway houses and drug treatment centers. Equally important,
the re-entry initiative will bring parole officers and community
agencies into prisons to help inmates nearing parole develop
successful release plans.

These are solid ideas with good track records around the country. The
Legislature ought to support them. Re-entry programs are not
soft-on-crime measures. They are practical efforts to reduce crime
that have had the strong support of the Bush administration.

A little extra help at the critical time of an offender's release from
prison will result in safer communities and lower prison costs. Dennis
Schrantz, the Department of Corrections' deputy director, aims to
lower recidivism rates by 10 percent within two years, saving the
state millions.

There's no better way for the state to manage its population safely
than to help make sure that those who get out stay out.