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| Rating inmates as higher risk than needed wastes funds |
| By freep.com |
| Published: 06/14/2011 |
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Legislators and Gov. Rick Snyder are looking to squeeze costs from the Michigan Department of Corrections' nearly $2-billion budget. One way to save is to ensure that no prisoner has an unnecessarily high -- and costly -- security classification. The office of the Legislative Corrections Ombudsman raised the issue last week, arguing before legislators that hundreds of inmates may have excessively high security classifications. On average, for example, a level-four prisoner costs $8,000 more a year to house than a level two -- though cost differences narrow within a multilevel prison. MDOC inmates are classified as level one, two, four, five or administrative segregation, with level one geared for inmates needing the least supervision and administrative segregation the most restrictive. Inmate security classifications are reviewed at least once a year. Getting inmates into the least restrictive setting possible is important not only to control costs but also to promote rehabilitation and re-entry efforts. At higher security levels, inmates have less access to programs, including those required for parole. At the highest security levels, inmates can't have contact visits. Cellmates at level four often share small cells in which they are required to stay for much of the day. Read More. |
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