Report | Corrections spending | Privatization | February 15, 2012 By the Michigan Corrections Organization Private prisons look at first like an attractive idea, promising savings to cash-strapped states whose leaders are frustrated by the high cost of corrections. However, 30 years of experience show that when prisons are turned over to for-profit corporations, cost [...]
By Gary Heinlein, Detroit News Lansing Bureau Lansing — Gov. Rick Snyder's budget presentation Thursday is expected to touch off another heated debate over the $2 billion Michigan spends on corrections, nearly one-fourth of the state's general fund and $600 million more than it invests in higher education. Lawmakers are pressuring Corrections director Dan Heyns [...]
By Laura Sager, Associate Director, Citizens Alliance on Prisons and Public Spending Bridge Magazine: News and Analysis from The Center for Michigan, June 14, 2012 Michigan taxpayers spend hundreds of millions of dollars more on prisons than public safety requires. How? By keeping people locked up far longer than we used to, than other states [...]
By Laura Sager, associate director, Citizens Alliance on Prisons & Public Spending, guest column, Bridge Magazine Michigan taxpayers spend hundreds of millions of dollars more on prisons than public safety requires. How? By keeping people locked up far longer than we used to, than other states do and than is necessary to prevent recidivism. Every [...]
Bridge Magazine: News and Analysis from The Center for Michigan, June 7, 2012 By Derek Merlot Michigan almost doubled the average time behind bars for its prisoners between 1990 and 2009, says a new study by the Pew Center on the States released Wednesday. While the trend mirrored a national one, Michigan’s practices on longer [...]
CAPPS Consensus, Spring 2012 The FY 2013 budgets proposed for the MDOC by the Executive, the Senate and the House, although different in significant ways, are all efforts to address the question: Why, with fewer facilities and nearly 8,000 fewer prisoners, do we still have a budget of $2 billion? It is not that reducing [...]
March 29, 2012 By Richard Stapleton, associate director, Citizens Alliance on Prisons and Public Spending, guest column, Bridge Magazine Ultimately, the least expensive prisoner is one who isn’t there. While the prison population has dropped by about 8,000 over the last five years, the Michigan Department of Corrections’ projections anticipate no further decline. But the [...]
By Barbara R. Levine, executive director, Citizens Alliance on Prisons and Public Spending, guest column, Bridge Magazine, March 20, 2012 Legislators agree we should spend less on corrections, but are reluctant to make the fundamental choices – like reinstating the sentencing commission, reforming parole practices and restoring sentencing credits – that could safely reduce the prisoner [...]
This 2011 presentation by Barbara Levine is as relevant today as it was in 2011: Barbara Levine, Citizens Alliance on Prisons & Public Spending Presentation to: Finding the Path to a $1.5 Billion Corrections Budget A Symposium for Policymakers and Stakeholders, March 17, 2011 When the prison population has been reduced by 7,500 and the [...]
News | Corrections spending | Investing in prevention | March 10, 2012 By Anika Fassia, policy analyst with the Michigan League for Human Services, guest column, Bridge magazine We are all familiar with the argument that you can spend a little upfront to change your car’s oil or you can wind up with a big [...]