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| Prison system inefficiencies, drug laws cost taxpayers |
| By poconorecord.com - ERIC BOEHM |
| Published: 04/24/2012 |
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HARRISBURG — The state Secretary of Corrections says inefficiencies within the state prison system is forcing taxpayers to pay for keeping about 1,900 inmates per year locked up when they otherwise would qualify for parole. "That's inexcusable in these budget times when there is no money and there is not going to be an increase in taxes," John Wetzel said Monday. "If we have inefficiencies that lead to costs, we cannot tolerate that." Wetzel said the prison system is set up to deal with long-term and dangerous offenders, but now a third of the inmates in the system — about 3,500 every year — come into state prison with less than a year to serve. Most are drug offenders, he said. In 1980, the state prisons housed 80 percent violent offenders and 20 percent non-violent offenders. By 2010, violent offenders comprised 47 percent of the population, while nonviolent offenders increased to 39 percent, according to department statistics. For an average short-term offender, who is sentenced to between six months and three years, the biggest complication is getting through the parole system. Even for those who qualify for immediate parole at the end of their minimum sentence, backlogs in the system require an average of 200 extra days in prison, Wetzel said. Taxpayers pay about $32,000 per inmate per year to support the prison system, so the backlog of 1,900 extra inmates each year that could be released adds more than $60 million to the department's costs. Read More. |
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