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: The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Mass. prison system overcrowded; Patrick aims to fix it

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

"The presence of inmates in the system taxes an already stretched prison system at a higher cost to the taxpayer. It costs $2,500 to supervise a person through parole, while it costs about $43,000 annually to incarcerate someone. And unsupervised transitions from prison lead to more crime and more victims, as an ex-inmate without parole supervision is twice as likely to go back to prison than a released inmate who goes on parole. With the state taking away the option of doing more time for no post-release supervisions, "consequently we free up beds," Burke said. The Patrick administration wants to make the matter a non-issue by requiring mandatory supervision for all who serve a state prison sentence equal to 25 percent of their sentence, with a minimum of nine months parole and a maximum of five years parole...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on June 29, 2009 (boomark / email).