Quotes about Michigan’s prison growth
A few illuminating comments spanning a quarter century of expansion. Read>> Michigan's prison growth quotes
Improving budget analysis of state criminal justice reforms: A strategy for better outcomes and saving money
By the ACLU’s Center on Budget and Policy Priorities An increasing number of states are considering criminal justice reforms proven to protect the public and produce significant cost savings. For example, some states are offering effective addiction treatment to more people convicted of drug-related crimes instead of incarcerating them. Other states are increasingly turning to [...]
Push on to contain Michigan’s prison spending
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 [...]
House narrows, approves ‘4 strikes’ bill on felons
Barbara Levine is quoted in this article about the new 25-year mandatory minimum for repeat offenders. By Nancy Derringer, Bridge Magazine FOUR STRIKES NARROWED: The House last week approved a revised version of a so-called “four strikes” bill aimed at repeat felons that could affect only 70 offenders per year. A Senate version of the [...]
Harsh sentencing rules cost millions without cutting crime
Detroit Free Press editorial Michigan legislators and taxpayers looking to save hundreds of millions of dollars in corrections costs should check out the Pew Center report ("Time Served: The High Cost, Low Return of Longer Prison Terms") that shows Michigan prisoners released in 2009 led the nation in average time served. Policies that would shave [...]
Michigan prison costs far exceed benchmarks; that should change
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 [...]
Prisons rethink isolation, saving money, lives and sanity
By Erica Goode, New York Times News | Corrections spending | Mental illness | Solitary confinement | March 10, 2012 PARCHMAN, Miss. — The heat was suffocating, and the inmates locked alone in cells in Unit 32, the state’s super-maximum-security prison, wiped away sweat as they lay on concrete slab beds. Kept in solitary confinement [...]
CAPPS Consensus Newsletter – Spring 2011
Read>> CAPPS Consensus Spring 2011 ● Why not reduce corrections spending to prevent cuts to other programs? See page 3. ● CAPPS co-sponsors symposium on corrections spending. See page 7. ● New CAPPS board members add depth, diversity. See page 16. ● New governor appoints new parole board. See page 18.