Pubdate: Sun, 21 Nov 2004
Source: Mobile Register (AL)
Copyright: 2004 Mobile Register
Contact:  http://www.al.com/mobileregister/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/269
Author: Ron Fraser, Special to the Register
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

FUNDING BASED ON INMATE NUMBERS

Here is how prison policies made in Montgomery and Washington take on a 
life of their own. Once prison operators, prison employees and community 
tax collectors learned they could profit from harsh, lock'em up drug 
control laws, a powerful political force was born to keep prisons full.

During the 1980s and 1990s tough-on-crime policies (especially drug control 
laws) overfilled America's prisons.

State and federal prisons held only 315,974 inmates in 1980. By 2000 that 
number had skyrocketed to 1,321,137. When inmates in city and county jails 
are added, America's total prison population topped 2 million in 2002.

Prisons, however, are not reserved for violent offenders. In 2002, for 
example, 1,235,700 simple drug possession ar rests were made in the United 
States -- about one-half of them for possession of marijuana. While not all 
of those arrested end up behind bars, the rush to lock up non-violent 
offenders was, in large part, responsible for setting off America's prison 
building boom.

A new study by Sarah Lawrence and Jeremy Travis at the Urban Institute's 
Justice Policy Center in Washington tracks how prisons became a growth 
industry in America. In "The New Landscape of Imprisonment: Mapping 
America's Prison Expansion," they found nationally that "During the last 
quarter of the 20th century, state prison systems grew from 592 prisons to 
1,023 prisons U an increase of 73 percent."

In 1979, 24 state correctional facilities -- including prisons -- operated 
in Alabama. By 2000, that number grew to 33, with six facilities operating 
in Elmore County and four in Montgomery County near the state capital. 
Three facilities are in Jefferson County and two in Bibb County, with the 
rest scattered throughout the state, including one in Mobile County.

The U.S. Census counts prisoners where they are incarcerated, and both 
federal and state agencies distribute funds based on this census data. The 
more prisoners counted in a town or county, the bigger will be its share of 
tax-funded goodies from Washington and Montgomery.

This gravy train includes a slice of $200 billion a year in formula grants 
from Washington to all state and local governments for Medicaid, foster 
care, adoption assistance and 169 other programs. In addition, the same 
data are used to allocate state funds for community health services, road 
construction, law enforcement and public libraries.

Regular paychecks roll in for 3,460 prison employees in Alabama. And don't 
forget the incomes of employees of private firms that directly sell food, 
fuel, clothing and furniture to prisons.

No wonder Alabama towns become addicted to this prison economy.

Spreading prisons across Alabama can actually perpetuate a large prison 
population. As more towns become economically dependent on state prisons 
holding more than 29,553 inmates in 2002, the greater is the likelihood 
that grass-roots support will grow for politicians who favor putting 
non-violent people behind bars.

After all, it's in the self-interest of these towns to keep their prisons 
full and their local economies booming.

When prisons boom, everyone wins except the non-violent inmates and the 
taxpayers. Politicians in Montgomery can show how tough they are on crime. 
Private prison operators and their investors make money.

Prison guards pay off their mortgage and support local businesses. Even the 
local tax collector gets his cut.

Now that the jailhouse economy is going strong, the political reforms that 
are needed to abandon this old drug war mentality will be much harder, if 
not impossible, to get through the legislatures in Montgomery and 
Washington. Chances are taxpayers are stuck with the cost of keeping 2 
million men and women behind bars well into the future -- not because 
justice demands it, but because the economic benefits of the prison 
business are working to keep it that way. 
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