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| States' Budget Crunch Affects Prisons |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 01/21/2003 |
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States have spent millions of dollars building new prisons to ease pressure on existing facilities, but many haven't been able to open as state budget crunches have left little money to operate them. In Pennsylvania, where the inmate population recently topped 40,000 for the first time, new prisons were recently built in Forest and Fayette counties. But the Department of Corrections has put off their opening until at least 2004 to satisfy a state mandate to cut spending. The department was asked to cut $15 million from its budget to help close a state deficit projected to hit $433 million this summer. Pennsylvania is not alone, said Joe Weedon, the legislative liaison for the American Correctional Association, an industry group. Weedon said, 'Many states, including Pennsylvania, have elected to delay the opening of facilities as a way of meeting those budgetary obligations.' Weedon could not say how many states have chosen to delay opening new prisons, but corrections officials from several states confirmed that prisons have not been opened or have been closed for budgetary reasons. In Illinois, the $143 million maximum-security Thompson Correctional Center was completed months ago, slated to house 2,200 inmates. But it remains empty because of a budget crunch in that state. Nevada closed down a wing of the Nevada State Prison to cut costs. Jackie Crawford, director of the Nevada Department of Corrections, said she is also recommending the cancellation of a planned $35 million expansion at the state's High Desert Prison to save as much as $3 million in annual operating costs. In Wisconsin, a $48 million prison completed last year remains closed and its future is uncertain. Pennsylvania has seen its inmate population rise to 40,062 as of last Tuesday - up more than 3,200 from last year's figure, McNaughton said. The prison system has a capacity of 34,433. Prison officials in each state emphasized that the prisons remain secure. |
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