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| As prisons swell, Illinois needs wiser policies |
| By suntimes.com |
| Published: 11/21/2014 |
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Illinois needs to get smarter about how it runs its prisons. A new federal census reports the state’s prisons were filled to 173 percent of design capacity as of Sept. 30, one of the worst rates in the nation. The Illinois Department of Corrections disputes that, saying prisons are at less than 100 percent of “operational capacity,” which takes into account such measures as putting two inmates into a cell instead of one. Clearly, though, the prisons are crowded. We need to do a better job of finding effective alternatives to incarceration that don’t pose a risk to public safety. For four decades, Springfield has responded to violence by making more types of crime eligible for prison sentences, and keeping inmates behind bars for longer periods of time. Just since 2007, Illinois’ prison population has increased by about 10 percent, even as the Department of Corrections budget has been cut by more than 10 percent. Our prisons now hold about 48,500 inmates. Read More. |
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