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State's prison budget soars - Los Angeles Times

By Dr. Michael Blankenship

Court orders and ballot measures like Jessica's Law have helped fuel spending, which has climbed 79% since '03.read more | digg storyThe check is due! We have been incarcerating more people for a longer period of time and now we have to pay for that luxury. Corrections budgets continue to crowd out the other major sectors of state spending - health care and K-12 education. Foolish policies such as "three-strikes" legislation have primarily served to incarcerate individuals at a time when age desistance was impacting their criminal offending while allowing elected officials to pander to the ignorance of the populace.We now have over 2.2 million people in prison, a significant number of whom have serious (and expensive) health care issues. Legislatures are reluctant to raise taxes, so spending on other services is constrained...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Justice Gambit on December 26, 2007 (boomark / email).