PENNSYLVANIA'S BOOMING PRISONS REFLECT POLICY DRIVEN BY POLITICS, NOT GOOD
SENSE

According to FBI statistics, the national crime rate declined 2.2 percent
between 1995 and 2002. The crime rate in Pennsylvania declined even more --
2.5 percent -- during the same period, according to the state police.

Yet, while crime in Pennsylvania was declining, the state's prison costs
were going up. Over the last decade, the budget for the state Department of
Corrections increased almost 68 percent. At the end of Gov. Bob Casey's
administration in 1994, the department's budget was only $816 million. In
his budget proposal for the 2004-05 fiscal year, Gov. Ed Rendell is asking
that the department get $1.37 billion.

You can go back to the administration of Gov. Dick Thornburgh to find some
of the seeds of the problem. Back then, it was popular for Harrisburg
politicians to get votes by being "tough on crime." Worries about drug and
gun crimes prompted lawmakers to enact mandatory minimum sentences for
various offenses.

When Tom Ridge became governor, the first thing he did in 1995 was convene
a special legislative session on crime. It resulted in even more mandatory
minimum sentences that tied the hands of judges, district attorneys and
corrections officials as to how they handle certain offenders. Often, jail
time was required, no matter whether the crime was violent or not.

Consequently, both the number of state prisons and number of prisoners they
hold have steadily increased over the last decade. While the Camp Hill
Prison riot and fire in 1989 showed the need for prison construction, in
1991 there were only 21 state prisons. Today there are 26 and 14 community
correction centers. Another maximum security prison will open this year. In
1995, there were 27,756 inmates in state prisons. By the end of this year,
there will be 34,439.

Pennsylvania spends more than $28,000 a year to house and care for each
prisoner. On average, it spends just under $9,000 to educate a school
child. When the average cost of a prison cell is $100,000, it makes you
wonder where elected officials' priorities are.

"If you think about someone who's serving a mandatory five-year sentence
for a drug offense, that's a $100,000 public policy investment we're making
on one drug offender," observes Mark Mauer of The Sentencing Project, a
Washington, D.C., alternative sentencing advocacy group.

Drug and alcohol treatments administered at the county levels are a big
part of the alternative sentencing. Last year, Gov. Rendell tried to
zero-out state funding for these programs. In December, funding was
restored to 2002 levels. We're two years behind. Pennsylvania could save on
prison costs by providing adequate treatment, instead of just a cell, for
nonviolent drug offenders. Lawmakers must put money where it works and give
judges and prosecutors more flexibility in dealing with nonviolent criminals.