Hi,
In Virginia, ten years ago, they abolished parole for felonies. The
Washington Post did an article about this, which is located here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24991-2004Dec24.html
An article called Parole in America's criminal system located here
http://www.allsands.com/History/Events/parolecriminal_xsa_gn.htm
brings up several good points, when looking at the cost differences
between Parole systems and straight Prison time. The California
Department of Corrections, in 1997 started a drug rehabilitation
program called Corcoran suggests that it is not only saving the state
a great deal of money for drug offenders, it could pay for itself.
This PDF file published June 2004 by the U.S Department of Justice
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/spe01.pdf.
breaks down prison costs per state, and per prisoner. It also suggests
that in the yearly budget for Prison systems, only about %23 of the
budget is spent on the parole systems nation wide.
Another report on the Bureau of Justice website profiles Parole
effectiveness from 1990 - 2000
abstract : " Trends in State Parole, 1990-2000
Examines the changing nature of offenders entering and leaving parole
and the effects on the trends and composition of the prison
population. The report compares discretionary and mandatory releases
to parole with the type of discharge from parole supervision. Data are
presented on the success and failure rates of offenders on parole by
criminal history, sentence length, time served in prison, and offense
distribution. The report also profiles specific characteristics and
needs of offenders reentering the community, including drug and
alcohol use history, homelessness, and mental health status.
Highlights include the following:
* After more than a decade of rapid growth, the number of adults
under State parole supervision has nearly stabilized -- increasing by
33,510 (0.7% per year) since 1992.
* Since 1990 mandatory parole releases have increased while
discretionary releases have decreased.
* 42% of parole discharges in 1999 successfully completed supervision. "
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/tsp00.htm
According to the reports from the Bureau of Justice, the following
statistics show the Parole population per state in 2003
Table 5. Adults on parole, 2003
2003
Region and jurisdiction Parole population, 1/1/03 Entries Exits Parole
population, 12/31/03 Percent change, 2003 Number on parole per
100,000 adult residents, 12/31/03
U.S. total 750,934 492,727 470,538 774,588 3.1 % 357
Federal 83,063 33,590 31,088 86,459 4.1 % 40
State 667,871 459,137 439,450 688,129 3.0 317
Northeast 174,591 77,381 71,903 180,069 3.1 % 437
Connecticut 2,186 3,260 2,847 2,599 18.9 99
Maine 32 0 0 32 0.0 3
Massachusetts 3,951 6,305 6,552 3,704 -6.3 370
New Hampshire/a 963 719 482 1,200 24.6 124
New Jersey 12,576 10,322 9,650 13,248 5.3 203
New York 55,990 25,049 25,186 55,853 -0.2 386
Pennsylvania/b 97,712 30,870 26,338 102,244 4.6 1,084
Rhode Island 384 456 448 392 2.1 48
Vermont 797 400 400 797 0.0 170
Midwest 114,173 95,242 87,882 121,533 6.4 % 250
Illinois 35,458 32,476 32,926 35,008 -1.3 374
Indiana 5,877 7,304 6,162 7,019 19.4 152
Iowa/c 2,787 2,787 2,475 3,099 11.2 140
Kansas /c 3,990 4,146 3,991 4,145 3.9 207
Michigan 17,648 12,579 9,994 20,233 14.6 271
Minnesota 3,577 4,121 4,102 3,596 0.5 96
Missouri 13,533 10,407 8,720 15,220 12.5 357
Nebraska 574 839 763 650 13.2 51
North Dakota 148 585 507 226 52.7 48
Ohio 17,853 11,670 11,096 18,427 3.2 216
South Dakota 1,640 1,451 1,147 1,944 18.5 346
Wisconsin 11,088 6,877 5,999 11,966 7.9 293
South 219,849 104,142 96,351 227,668 3.6 % 291
Alabama 5,309 4,098 2,457 6,950 30.9 206
Arkansas 12,128 7,379 5,813 13,694 12.9 672
Delaware 551 217 239 529 -4.0 85
District of Columbia /a,b 5,297 3,136 3,369 5,064 -- 1,129
Florida 5,223 4,409 4,680 4,952 -5.2 37
Georgia 20,822 11,738 10,391 22,135 6.3 344
Kentucky /c 5,968 4,719 3,115 7,572 26.9 243
Louisiana 23,049 13,468 11,452 25,065 8.7 766
Maryland 13,271 8,059 7,588 13,742 3.5 334
Mississippi /d 1,816 1,103 963 1,816 0.0 87
North Carolina 2,805 3,214 3,342 2,677 -4.6 42
Oklahoma /a 3,573 1,995 1,521 4,047 -- 155
South Carolina 3,491 1,025 1,306 3,210 -8.0 103
Tennessee 7,949 3,130 3,314 7,967 0.2 180
Texas /a 103,068 32,847 33,644 102,271 -0.8 639
Virginia 4,530 2,779 2,475 4,834 6.7 86
West Virginia 999 826 682 1,143 14.4 81
West 159,258 182,371 183,313 158,859 -0.3 % 324
Alaska /c 900 614 587 927 -- 203
Arizona /b 4,587 8,895 8,115 5,367 17.0 129
California/c 113,185 148,915 152,305 110,338 -2.5 424
Colorado 6,215 5,298 4,954 6,559 5.5 193
Hawaii 2,525 906 1,191 2,240 -11.3 231
Idaho 1,961 1,486 1,118 2,329 18.8 236
Montana /c 845 601 631 815 -3.6 119
Nevada 3,971 2,956 2,801 4,126 3.9 243
New Mexico 1,962 1,977 1,532 2,407 22.7 177
Oregon 19,090 8,059 7,380 19,769 3.6 733
Utah 3,352 2,300 2,353 3,299 -1.6 205
Washington /a 95 45 35 105 10.5 2
Wyoming 570 319 311 578 1.4 156
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/ppus03.htm
(I would have just given you the link for this information, but the
file is actually a spread sheet on that page, and buried in several
files contained in the zip file).
Abstract: " Using actual expenditure data from 1986, Pearson and
Harper calculate that it costs $59 a day per inmate in prison, $2 to
$3 per day for regular parole, and $15 per day in the intensive
supervision program. The typical program offender served 109 days in
prison and 449 days in the intensive supervision program, while the
typical inmate in the control group spent 308 days in prison and 896
days on regular parole. Given these numbers, the estimated cost
savings was approximately $7,000 per offender in 1986. If, in fact,
the program does reduce recidivism, the savings may even be higher if
one were to include the avoided cost of future incarcerations. Thus,
it appears that there may be significant cost savings from using the
program."
Florida Corrections Commission
http://www.fcc.state.fl.us/fcc/reports/intermed/ch2.html
An article discussing the Prison costs of Texas has this to say:
" Parole programs keep track of prison inmates after they are released.
"Does it make sense to keep folks in a $40-a-day bed, with no programs
and rehabilitation, when we could keep them working and have them do
probation for $2 a day?" Whitmire said. "No way."
http://www.news-journal.com/news/content/shared/tx/legislature/stories/01/26prison.html;COXnetJSessionID=B49HhshMoFn8x29oRUf401mtYi6rMQr0W3KMgHYo1XTUVvr82pPy!-1048358519?urac=n&urvf=11067875913140.4543102912697843
Iowa suggests that they spend $8.00 per day on Parole systems,
compared to $48.00 per day on those in prison.
Other Links of Interest
Prison and Parole Costs
http://www.calyx.net/~schaffer/hemp/moscone/chap6.html
With Longer Sentences, Cost of Fighting Crime is Higher
http://www.prisontalk.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-59175.html
Parole in America's criminal system
http://www.allsands.com/History/Events/parolecriminal_xsa_gn.htm
Ten Years After It Eliminated Parole Va, Considers the Costs
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24991-2004Dec24.html
Non-custodial sanctions, prison costs and prison overcrowding
http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/proceedings/11/weatherburn.html
Florida Corrections Commission
http://www.fcc.state.fl.us/fcc/reports/intermed/ch2.html
JPI Report
http://www.criticalresistance.org/index.php?name=jpireport
If you need further information on this please feel free to use the
Clarification feature and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.
thanks,
webadept-ga |
