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Western MA: Editorial: The high price of prisons

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

The high price of prisons Editorial: Daily Hampshire Gazette Northampton, MA 03/10/2008 America's criminal justice system has reached a dubious milestone: For the first time ever, one in 100 Americans are now serving time in either a jail or prison, according to a new study by the Pew Charitable Trusts. As a result, the study found, the amount of money available for other public services - such as education - continues to decline as states struggle to build and operate prisons to keep pace with a growing population of inmates. In Massachusetts, the state is spending almost as much from its general fund on prisons as on education - about $1 billion every year, according to the study. The stunning rise in America's prison population is a result of efforts over the last two decades to extend prison terms, particularly for drug crimes, and impose mandatory sentences, which take away a judge's discretion to place nonviolent offenders in community-based rehabilitation programs that are often more effective in lowering the rate of recidivism...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on March 10, 2008 (boomark / email).