Leaders from three states traveled to Capitol Hill in June to tout the positive effects of their recent sentencing and corrections reforms for a summit on public safety attended by members of Congress who are considering reforming the federal system.
Nearly half of U.S. states have enacted reforms since 2007 through “bipartisan efforts…that have reduced prison growth and taxpayer costs while improving public safety,” according to a June report by the Pew Charitable Trust, which hosted the event.
Leaders from South Dakota, Utah and South Carolina spoke about the improvements reforms have brought to their states. While the reforms vary, all of the states are reserving space in prisons for serious and repeat offenders and channeling non-violent offenders through cost-effective alternatives to prison.
The speakers found a willing audience in U.S. Representatives Bobby Scott, D-Va., and Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc., who spoke in favor of federal reforms.
South Dakota’s Republican governor, Dennis Daugaard, said the prison population in his state has stabilized since 2013. Two prison construction projects were halted, and the new prison funds redirected toward programs that will help to reduce recidivism.
Parole caseloads now look a lot different since the implementation of the programs. The report acknowledged that South Dakota’s parole completion rate has gone from 37 percent in 2012 to 60 percent in 2014. Furthermore, the parolee population has decreased eight percent in nearly two years.
In the state of South Carolina, reforms have been underway since 2010. In 2015, the prison system statewide has declined 22 percent than what was projected without reforms — a 9.5 percent drop in the population, bringing the total of incarcerated to 21,815 prisoners. South Carolina also closed two prisons and reduced by population of another prison in half, and the number of nonviolent offenders has dropped by 30 percent. South Carolina is also reporting a 16 percent drop in violent crime.
In Utah $13 million has been redirected as a result of strict reforms and prioritizing prison space for serious offenders. In April 2015, a criminal justice legislation package was passed giving the corrections department the ability to strengthen the probation and parole departments. The package also helps to direct funds to re-entry programs aiding in reducing recidivism.
In the next two decades, legislators believe that they can reduce prison expansion by nearly 100 percent. If successful, taxpayers will save more tan $500 million.
Pew reported that the national incarceration rate fell four percent from 2003 to 2013. In contrast, the federal incarceration rate rose 15 percent over the same period.
Huffington Post concluded that, “changes and growing successes can serve as a guide for Congress as it considers sentencing and corrections reform at the federal level.
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