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Kentucky's prison economy leading to prisoner releases

By Douglas A. Berman

This local article from Kentucky, headlined "Inmates freed early to save state money," documents my favorite modern sentencing mantra: "It's the prison economy, stupid."  Here are specifics from the article:Kentucky has released nearly 900 inmates -- more than 200 of them originally serving time for murder, rape, burglary and assault -- since the end of May in an attempt to save the cash-strapped state $30 million over the next two years.  Those inmates were parole violators who were sent back to prison but received credit against their sentences for the time they were out on parole. <p>Prosecutors are furious with the move, saying it rewards felons for bad behavior and will lead to more crime. Inmates "are magically being given hundreds, if not thousands, of days of jail credit back to them after they've already shown they can't conform their behavior to societal standards," said Chris Cohron, commonwealth's attorney for Warren County...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on July 10, 2008 (boomark / email).