Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Criminal Law

: The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

MA: State needs to explore alternatives to jail, prison

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

Wednesday, March 12, 2008 Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, MA) State needs to explore alternatives to jail, prison To the editor: Despite the unconscionable wreckage to lives and ever-increasing financial cost, Massachusetts, like the rest of the country, continues its jail and prison building boom. Gov. Deval Patrick's bond bill filed in January includes funding for 56 additional cells for women at the Chicopee jail. The new jail cost $26 million to build but that is only the tip of the iceberg since caging a woman in one of the current 210 cells for a year costs more than $43,200. Approximately half the women are incarcerated at the jail because they are too poor to make bail of $200 to $500. They can easily be held pretrial for months...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on March 12, 2008 (boomark / email).