BUDGET BUSTER: PRISON INMATES COST $72 A DAY

Gov. James E. McGreevey's projected $5 billion budget deficit is due, in
part, to the cost of confining 23,100 people in state prisons.

To cut prison costs -- and to avoid the appearance of being soft on crime
- -- some states are turning to dead-end fixes. Other states, however, are
counting on alternatives to incarceration to reduce prison costs.

The cost to keep each New Jersey inmate behind bars is $72.88 a day, or
$26,000 a year. Add in other operating and capital costs and you get a
prison bill of $975 million a year.

What to do?

Intelligent budget cutting strategies come in three varieties.

Early release: Kentucky' governor gave 567 non-violent inmates an early
release from prison to ease his budget woes. A similar step that cuts a
year off of each sentence in New Jersey could save more than $14 million.

Sentencing reform: Michigan's former Republican governor, John Engler,
signed into law a bill repealing the state's mandatory minimum sentencing
laws for drug crimes, a step that is already reducing the number of
first-time offenders going to jail. Sentencing reforms in Washington state
are expected to lower the inmate count by 1,800 and, in North Carolina, new
guidelines call for harsh prison terms for violent crimes, but community
level sentences for non-violent, first time offenders. Connecticut,
Louisiana, Mississippi and North Dakota have also reduced sentences for
non-violent and first time offenders by easing their mandatory minimum
sentencing laws. In New Jersey, every 1,000 offenders not incarcerated for
a year would cut the budget deficit by $26 million.

Treatment, not jail: Another group of states -- Texas, Oregon, California,
Idaho and Arkansas -- have expanded the use of drug treatment to greatly
lower prison costs. Since about 80 percent of prison inmates have serious
drug and alcohol problems, and states currently spend so little on
prevention and treatment, this strategy has great potential for reducing
budget deficits. Each citizen or inmate that completes a state sponsored
treatment program and then avoids a future run-in with the law could save
taxpayers at least $38,000.

Leaders in Trenton can continue to raise taxes to incarcerate nonviolent
offenders. Or they can use smart-sentencing policies, coupled with
treatment and prevention programs, to cut both costs and taxes.

Ronald Fraser, Ph.D.
Burke, Va.