According to a new report released yesterday by the Pew Center on the States’ Public Safety Performance Project, at the start of 2008, 2,319,258 adults were held in American prisons or jails, or one in every 99.1 men and women.  This gives the U.S. the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world, including China, a country with 4 times the population.

The 37-page study report highlights a number of fascinating and disturbing trends with regard to the makeup of the prison population, rising prisoner numbers and incarceration costs, and the disproportionate amount of money states are spending on their prison systems compared to other programs like education. 

The numbers 

According to the report, 36 states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons saw their prison populations increase in 2007. Texas surpassed California as the nation’s prison leader following.  Meanwhile, ten states experienced inmate population growth of 5 percent or greater, a list topped by Kentucky with a 12 percent increase.

A close examination of the most recent U.S. Department of Justice data (2006) found that while one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, the figure is one in nine for black males in that age group. Men are still roughly 13 times more likely to be incarcerated, but the female population is expanding at a far brisker pace. For black women in their mid- to late-30s, the incarceration rate also has hit the one-in-100 mark. In addition, one in every 53 adults in their 20s is behind bars; the rate for those over 55 is one in 837. 

Costs 

Last year alone, states spent more than $49 billion on corrections, up from $11 billion 20 years before.  By 2011, costs are expected to increase over 50 percent to $74 billion. 

The main drivers for the increase in costs are, not surprisingly an increase in the number of prisoners to feed, clothe, house, guard, and provide medical care to.  Although numbers vary widely state to state, the average annual cost per prisoner was almost $24,000 in 2005.  However, in Rhode Island, incarceration costs reached $45,000 per inmate.

State variations in costs stem mainly from the inmate-prison ratio, employee pay and benefit variations, and energy costs.  Health care is one of the biggest drivers of increased cost in the penal system, with expenditures increasing 10 percent annually and composing 10 percent of total spending on prisoners.   

About half of released inmates return to jail or prison within three years.  Although violent criminals and other serious offenders account for some of the growth, many inmates are low-level offenders (e.g. drug users) or people who have violated the terms of their probation or parole.

Interestingly, the Pew study also noted that over the same 20-year period, inflation-adjusted general fund spending on corrections rose 127 percent while higher education expenditures rose just 21 percent.

The report points out the necessity of locking up violent and repeat offenders, but notes that prison growth and higher incarceration rates do not reflect a parallel increase in crime, or a corresponding surge in the nation’s population at large. Instead, more people are behind bars principally because of a wave of policy choices that are sending more lawbreakers to prison and, through popular “three-strikes” measures and other sentencing laws, imposing longer prison stays on inmates.

Politics plays a major role in drumming up support for harsher prison sentences.  Candidates not wanting to be labeled "soft on crime" by opponents quickly get behind any bills for mandatory sentences, three-strikes laws, or other such elevated punishments.  These policies, in concert with elevated health care cost for inmates, have driven up incarceration costs to the point where they compose larger and larger pieces of state budgets each year.

Where do we go from here? 

The report notes that some states recognize that their penal system is not working and are attempts to rework the treatement of lower risk offeners to reduce costs.  Policy changes include the substitution of a mix of community-based programs for prison time.  Examples include day reporting centers, treatment facilities, electronic monitoring systems and community service—tactics recently adopted in Kansas and Texas.  Another common intervention, used in Kansas and Nevada, is making small reductions in prison terms for inmates who complete substance abuse treatment and other programs designed to cut their risk of recidivism.

Texas policy makers predict these changes will save the state close to $450 million over the next two years, if the substance abuse treatments succeed. But debate continues over how to properly motivate those who commit so called "technical violations" like missing a substance abuse appointment to failing a drug test.  Most states send these low-level violators back to prison. 

In California, technical violations accounted for 39 percent of all incarcerations.  As a result, California and other states are looking for alternative, most cost-effective means of punishments for these technical violations.  Ideas include electronic monitoring systems, community service sentences, and an increase in the use of reporting centers, which function like substance abuse treatment clinics. 

The Pew study's scope and findings are impressive, and seem to indicate a need for reforming drug sentences to keep prisons open for those truly endangering society and keep costs low.  For those seeking more information, you can find the entire report here.