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| Rising prison costs hit taxpayers |
| By statesmanjournal.com - Laura Fosmire |
| Published: 10/15/2012 |
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Oregon’s inmate population has been steadily increasing, and will continue to grow for the next 10 years, at an escalating cost to taxpayers. The Department of Corrections released its population forecasts on Oct. 1, predicting the number of inmates Oregon prisons will house as far into the future as 2023. The state operates 14 prisons that are housing 14,234 inmates. And it’s predicted to go up. Officials predict 2,300 more inmates will be housed in state prisons through December 2023, a 16.2 percent increase. And population rates have done nothing but increase at a constant rate. Since January 2000, the prison population in the state has swelled by 4,537 people, a 47.78 percent increase. The estimated cost to house an inmate for a day is $84.81. With prison population rates as they are, the cost adds up quickly. Officials estimate the population forecasts during the next decade will cost taxpayers as much as $600 million. “That’s fueled mostly by nonviolent offenders,” said Liz Craig, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections. “Construction, operating prisons and staffing probably all goes into that (cost).” Recent reports point out that prison population forecasts done by the Department of Corrections in the past have been much higher than the actual population turned out to be. Read More. |
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