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PA: State hopes new prisons, early release cut crowding

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

State hopes new prisons, early release cut crowding Monday, October 27, 2008 By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau HARRISBURG -- A steady rise in the number of inmates and the political risks of paroling prisoners early are complicating the state's efforts to ease crowded conditions in its prisons. The 27 existing lockups now hold nearly 47,000 inmates, which is up from a population of just over 36,000 in 1998. The number of inmates is now 8 percent over the current capacity of 43,300. And the tide keeps on rising. State Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard estimates that the overall prison population could top 57,000 by the end of 2012. Legislators' desire to be "tough on crime" and the public's fear of rising drug-related crimes have led to longer and more mandatory sentences...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on October 28, 2008 (boomark / email).