States ponder early release for prisoners – Economy in Turmoil- msnbc.com
NEW YORK – Their budgets in crisis, governors, legislators and prison officials across the nation are making or considering policy changes that will likely remove tens of thousands of offenders from prisons and parole supervision.In California, faced with a projected $42 billion deficit and prison overcrowding that has triggered a federal lawsuit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to eliminate parole for all offenders not convicted of violent or sex-related crimes, reducing the parole population by about 70,000. He also wants to divert more petty criminals to county jails and grant early release to more inmates — steps that could trim the prison population by 15,000 over the next 18 months.
In Kentucky, where the inmate population had been soaring, even some murderers and other violent offenders are benefiting from a temporary cost-saving program that has granted early release to nearly 2,000 inmates.
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine is proposing early release of about 1,000 inmates. New York Gov. David Paterson wants early release for 1,600 inmates as well as an overhaul of the so-called Rockefeller Drug Laws that impose lengthy mandatory sentences on many nonviolent drug offenders.
Here’s an idea: how about you stop arresting so many of those non-violent drug offenders in the first place? Based on the numbers from the FBI Uniform Crime Report for 2007:
- California arrested 289,449 people for drugs
- Kentucky arrested 11,883 people for drugs
- Virginia arrested 32,941 people for drugs
- New York arrested 61,163 people for drugs
Now if it is too scary to think about not arresting the users of all illegal drugs, let’s narrow it down to cannabis. The FBI didn’t give me state-level breakdowns of cannabis arrests, but nationwide cannabis accounts for 47% of all drug arrests. For the four states mentioned, that’s 185,854 cannabis arrests, and since 89% of those are possession-only arrests, that’s 165,410 otherwise law-abiding pot smokers arrested – not growers, traffickers, or dealers, just tokers.
To be fair, most of these 165,410 don’t spend much more than their booking time in a jail. But it still takes time, money, and space to prosecute them and that begins to add up. If these four states mentioned just taxed and regulated cannabis like Jagermeister, combined they’d raise $1.9 billion every year. That wouldn’t completely solve these states’ budget crises, but it sure would keep a few more actual criminals behind bars.
honest lt the gov dn,t care this low offenders its all about the money and what they get out of it like child support has the gov takes them away from there kids who suffers not the mother or father cus that year the father was locked up the child has to learn the father all over again maybe the gov shud do there job and support these kids not the battle between to parents…or this jail over crowding the gov caused it them selves let them out all low affenders ….set them FREE
Actually, 21% of our readers don’t use cannabis at all. At least according to Poll #31, which asked if people were tokers, smokers, or drinkers. Out of 650 responses, 28 used none of those substances, 19 only drank, 5 only smoked, and 87 both drank and smoked. 35% use only cannabis and no booze or tobacco.
W
hat a shame that probably 99% of the people who read this are pot smokers. Everyone should know about these stories. Non-violent crimes hurting (hurting who? how?)nobody. Hurting families by fining and imprisoning nice folk who might have been doctors, or auto mechanics, or YOU or YOUR SONS and DAUGHTERS!
I read with extreme interest the article in Parade Magazine titled “WHY WE MUST FIX OUR PRISONS”.
My grandson (age 29) has been sentenced to 9 months in prison recently. While I do not condone what he has done I feel his punishment was completely unreasonable. He has worked for 10 years for one company since graduating from high school and was 2 semesters away from an associates degree in Industrial Maintenance earned by taking night classes.
I feel this will completely ruin his life as far as ever getting a job and his self-esteem back.
This has been a complete shock to our family. We would be more than willing to house him in our home on house arrest and take him to whatever he was required to do.
Even though it may not help my grandson, what can I do to help this cause. It is true too many young mens lives are being ruined by this antiquated system.
my boyfriend is currently serving a sentence in Florida. Prisons are so crowded. he has 72 people in his small dorm. sharing beds and everything. he is a non-violent offender who has a family waiting for his return. he will never return to prison once released. i have to send him money every week for him to simply survive. i would rather spend that money on fees for house arrest or supervision. he is a good person who made a silly mistake, as did thousand others. releasing them would save the state millions in their budget. I really don’t understand a state that is willing to spend more tax dollars on prisons and corrections than education. Charlie Crist (governer of Florida) says that Florida needs more prisons, but what they have is a failing education system. Maybe if he invested that money on education, Florida wouldn’t need the prisons in the first place. he has it backwards.
If you place prisoners with non-violent crimes on house arrest or give them work duty, then think of the money that would be saved by tax payers.
I agree with Miss. Glazner that it would be a good idea to let inmates who less time left to serve out and put them on house arrest or something of that nature with families who are willing to house them.Our econimy is sinking too fast to keep waisting taxpayers dollars.Besides what’s the punishment for all these prisoners if we the hard working people of america are paying for their crimes.In all reality people like me,a good hard working single mother,are paying for criminals to have three hot free meals a day and a free place to live now whats the punishment for that.Let them out put them to work for meer dollars a day,give them some responsibility,let them earn back there rights and stop making us,the people,pay for them.This country is in a great suffering this would be a start and a start is what we need to succeed.
Alllll that wasted money for PRISONS just for “housing”/holding.. people for
years and years and years….while all threw out the years no money for our childrens school books or new schools…
It’s a Shame and a Waste all the tax payers dollars used just for holding bodies in prison…
Let people out! many of them have families that love them and would “house” them…without us all paying tax payer dollars….so I think that it really is a excellent idea Patterson and other Gov’s have.
Here’s another idea. How about the prisoners like my son who has only a few months left, place them on house arrest? It would cut down on the money the State has to spend out to house them.