Pubdate: Sat, 18 Jan 2003
Source: The Southeast Missourian (MO)
Copyright: 2003, Southeast Missourian
Contact: http://www.semissourian.com/opinion/speakout/submit/
Website: http://www.semissourian.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1322
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

PRISON POPULATIONS TAX STATES' BUDGETS

Missouri's gloom-and-doom economic performance in recent months is almost 
overwhelming at times. But the picture is becoming clearer that we're not 
alone.

Take the prison situation. Missouri barely scraped up enough money to open 
a badly needed state-of-the-art prison in Bonne Terre. A wing of the 
maximum security prison in Charleston has never been opened for the same 
budgetary reasons, although word came this week it could open in the summer.

But consider Pennsylvania, where prisons are bursting at the seams and two 
new prisons aren't being used due to budget troubles.

In Illinois, a $143 million correctional center was completed two months 
ago and remains empty.

Nevada officials closed down a wing of one state prison to save costs and 
plans to cancel an expansion on another. The list goes on.

Prison populations everywhere have mushroomed in recent years not because 
there is more crime, but because there are stiffer mandatory sentences. As 
states continue to face financial difficulty in generating enough revenue 
to pay for ever-increasing levels of spending, some thought may have to be 
given to laws that require non-violent offenders to be imprisoned when 
there isn't enough money to operate the prisons we have.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom