TOO MANY INMATES DRIVE UP PRISON COSTS

Find alternatives for nonviolent, first-time offenders

GOV. Mark Warner's budget problems are due in part to the cost of confining
25,400 people in state prisons.

To cut prison costs - and 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 of keeping each Virginia inmate behind bars is $53.23 a day, or
$19,000 a year. Add in other operating and capital costs, and you get a
prison bill of $754 million a year. What to do?

Illinois is cutting inmate education programs, to save $5 million a year,
and Florida is cutting drug treatment for inmates, to save $7 million.
Minnesota is charging inmates room and board, and Iowa prisons now serve
desserts only once a day.

Against huge budget shortfalls, those measures are fiscal dead ends. More
important, they will keep the same number of persons behind bars at only a
slightly lower cost to the taxpayer.

States that focus on large prison populations as the reason for high prison
costs are adopting smart fixes that not only cost less than locking people
up, but also address the legitimate safety concerns of citizens and the need
to help people take control of their lives.

Intelligent budget-cutting strategies come in three varieties:

Early release.

Kentucky's governor gave 567 nonviolent inmates an early release from prison
to ease his budget woes.

A similar step that cuts a year off of each sentence in Virginia could save
as much as $10 million.

Sentencing reform.

Michigan's 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
nonviolent, first-time offenders. Connecticut, Louisiana, Mississippi and
North Dakota have also reduced sentences for nonviolent and first-time
offenders by easing their mandatory minimum sentencing laws.

In Virginia, every 1,000 offenders not incarcerated for a year would save
$19 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.

California, for example, expects its treatment programs to send 24,000 fewer
persons to prison each year. In Arkansas, judges now have the discretion to
sentence offenders convicted of nonviolent, nonsexual offenses to treatment
as opposed to a prison term.

Spending taxes up front to prevent problems can significantly cut
unnecessary costs later in state-run corrections, health, education and
welfare programs. A California study found that for every dollar invested in
treating inmate substance abuse, taxpayers eventually save about $7 in
future costs. A similar analysis in Oregon showed a 5-to-1 savings ratio.

Effective treatment programs cost about $3,500 per year. But tax savings
during the first year after a person successfully completes a treatment
program can be enormous: $5,000 in reduced crime costs, $7,300 in reduced
arrest and prosecution costs and, for Virginia, $19,000 in reduced
incarceration costs.

Each citizen or inmate who completes a state-sponsored treatment program and
then avoids a future run-in with the law could save taxpayers at least
$31,000. For every 1,000 citizens and inmates successfully completing these
programs, future Virginia budget deficits could be reduced by $31 million.

The choice is clear. Leaders in Richmond can 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 of Burke writes on public policy issues for the
Washington-based DKT Liberty Project.