Pubdate: Tue, 09 May 2006 Source: Des Moines Register (IA) Copyright: 2006 The Des Moines Register. Contact: http://desmoinesregister.com/index.html Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/123 WEIGH RISING COSTS OF LONG SENTENCES Look At Alternatives To Building Prison Iowa legislators think long and hard before spending additional money on public schools and universities or cleanup of lakes and rivers. But when it comes to prisons, well, that's another story. Sky's the limit. No amount will be spared. Even if that means building new prisons that add nothing to the state's economy, quality of life or public safety. Case in point: At the current rate of growth in sex offenders being sentenced to prison, the state will need to build a 750-bed prison within the next decade at an estimated cost of $50 million, a report last week to the Iowa Board of Corrections projected. The price tag for construction, however, is only the beginning: It costs an estimated $28 million a year to run a prison that size. Figure on those being minimum numbers. To put those numbers in perspective, the Legislature this year was barely able to scrape together similar amounts for schools ($35 million for teacher-salary increases and $15 million for pre-schools) and water quality ($18 million). It took lawmakers the entire session, much of it spent in caucuses or negotiations behind closed doors, to reach a fragile consensus on that spending. Those who wanted more money for education or the environment were told the state couldn't afford it. Don't look for similar angst when it comes to building and staffing larger prisons, however. Lawmakers have themselves to blame, of course. They have pushed the "tough on crime" button every opportunity they get, especially in election years. This has been especially true in recent years with sex offenders. The net effect is that this crackdown will, by 2015, add more than 700 inmates to the 1,100 inmates now serving time in state prisons for sex crimes, according to corrections officials. This mad rush to toughen laws, lengthen sentences and fill prisons to house growing numbers of sex offenders might make sense if there were a shred of evidence that time in prison has any curative effect on the offender. But there is no such evidence. The evidence that seems of most interest to politicians is the connection between tougher criminal penalties and election returns. Unfortunately, it is taxpayers who pay the growing bill and suffer the failure of the state to adequately pay for public services that actually make a difference in people's lives. Before Iowa considers building any more prisons, it should take a comprehensive look at the entire corrections system to objectively assess facility needs. That study should include alternatives to prison that are cheaper and, in many cases, more effective in changing lives and protecting the public. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman