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Whitmire coauthors Washpost op ed on "Cutting the prison rate safely"

By Gritsforbreakfast

Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chair John Whitmire co-authored an op-ed piece in the Washington Post today along with another state senator from Kansas on the topic of "Cutting the Prison Rate Safely." While opining that mass incarceration "has undoubtedly helped reduce the nation's crime rate," they write that high numbers of nonviolent, lower-risk criminals have been swept up in the prison boom. Getting tough on them has gotten tough on taxpayers, without an adequate public safety benefit. A prison cell costs about $65,000 to build and $24,000 a year to operate. States spend nearly $50 billion a year on corrections, more than four times the amount from 20 years ago, and they are projected to spend an additional $25 billion over the next five years to accommodate more inmates...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on March 20, 2008 (boomark / email).