ARS identified $250 million of taxpayer savings

The challenge

Many jurisdictions face the daily challenge of avoiding a prison-crowding crisis. Their policy makers have two options: (1) to predict, fund, and build adequate space for their impending demand, or (2) take the necessary policy or legislative steps to reduce the number of inmates entering prison and/or reduce how long inmates stay.

Unfortunately prison populations vary naturally over time for a number of reasons:

• Changes in prison admission patterns
• Changes in the demographic make-up of offenders
• Changes in sentences imposed by judges
• Changes in resource allocation and prison capacity
• Annual legislative changes to criminal sanctions

Together, these factors interact in a dynamic system that complicates the efforts of planners to manage the growth of prison populations and to ensure prison beds are in place at the time beds are needed. Building too many prisons can be a costly investment, while building too few prisons can be a costly mistake that typically results in extensive social and legal costs (law suits, riots).

On average, it cost about $75 million to build one prison to house 1,500 offenders and more than $25 million to operate annually. In Georgia, for example, where the prison population exceeds 48,000 inmates, slight changes in sentencing practices or changes in parole release policies can have a profound impact on the prison population and state budget.