CENTER ON JUVENILE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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Cutting Correctly: New Prison Policies for Times of Fiscal Crisis

CONTACT: Daniel Macallair
E-mail: [dmacallair@cjcj.org]
Tel: (415) 621-5661 x310

What the States are Doing

As states around the country brace for $40 billion in cuts in fiscal year 2003, there is more public support for cutting corrections than any other state line item. Here's what states around the country are doing to make sure that corrections budgets do their share to trim state deficits, without jeopardizing public safety.

I. Prison Closings

Ohio Governor Bob Taft (R)closed the century-old Orient Correctional Institution, saving an estimated $42 million in operating costs and another $16 million in needed renovations.

Illinois Governor George Ryan (R) announced the closure of the 141-year-old Jolliet Prison, which will cut the corrections budget by $41 million.

Michigan Governor John Engler's (R) efforts to bridge a $500 million deficit with budget cuts include closing the maximum-security prison at Jackson, the Pontiac Correctional Center, Camp Pellston, and most housing units at the Michigan Reformatory at Ionio, for a combined savings of $55 million. Gov. Jeb Bush (R) plans to close Florida's Hendry Correctional Institution, netting $1.8 million in salary savings.

In Kansas , Governor Bill Graves (R) has proposed closing minimum-security prisons in order to deal with a $426 million deficit.

Working with a Republican Governor and Legislature in Utah (Governor Michael O. Leavitt-R), corrections officials have shuttered two small correctional facilities and have used some of the savings to hire more parole agents and increase parole releases.

California (Governor Gray Davis-D) officials are talking about closing five small community correction facilities that house minimum-security prisoners, while the construction of a new, $335 million maximum-security prison is becoming increasingly controversial.

II. Scaling Back Mandatory Sentences

Spurred to action by Louisiana's Governor Mike Foster (R), the Louisiana legislature abolished mandatory sentences for dozens of nonviolent offenses and amended the state's "Three Strikes" law, requiring that both convictions that would count as the first two "strikes" be for violent crimes.

The Indiana (Governor Frank O'Bannon-D) legislature voted to repeal a mandatory minimum sentence required in many drug cases.

North Dakota (Governor John Hoeven-R) legislators repealed a one-year mandatory minimum prison sentence for first offenders convicted of drug possession.

In Connecticut, (Governor John G. Rowland-R) a Republican Governor and Democratically controlled legislature teamed up to relax mandatory minimum sentencing requirements for some drug felons.

Michigan's Governor John Engler (R)and legislature abolished a mandatory life without the possibility of parole sentence under its "650 Lifer" law to allow for parole for individuals convicted of delivery of 650 grams or more of cocaine or heroin. Two bills currently under consideration would grant additional sentencing discretion to judges, further scaling back mandatory sentencing in Michigan.

Policy makers in New York (George E. Pataki -R), New Mexico (Governor Gary E. Johnson-R) and Massachusetts (Governor Jane Swift -R) have proposed legislation to ease or eliminate mandatory sentences in those states this legislative session.

III. Drug Policy Reforms

In 1996, sixty-five percent of Arizona (Governor Jane Dee Hull -R) voters approved Proposition 200 that diverts non-violent offenders convicted of drug possession from prison into treatment. An Arizona Supreme Court analysis of Proposition 200 estimates that, in 1999, the measure saved nearly $7 million.

California's Proposition 36, modeled after the Arizona initiative, was approved by 61 percent of California voters in 2000. The state's Legislative Analyst estimates that Proposition 36 will save $100 to $150 million annually by diverting about 36,000 drug possession offenders from jail and prison in treatment.

The Campaign for New Drug Policies is currently working toward placing initiatives modeled on the successful Arizona and California propositions on the ballot in Florida (Governor Jeb Bush-R), Ohio (Governor Bob Taft -R), and Michigan (Governor John Engler -R).

The Drug Policy Subcommittee of the Kansas Sentencing Commission is proposing a "Proposition36" style sentencing reform for enactment this session.

IV. Sentencing Reforms

Sentencing reforms enacted in 1993 in North Carolina (Governor Michael F. Easley -D) have diverted 10,000 to 12,000 offenders annually from prison. While the rest of the Southern US experienced a 14 percent incarceration rate increase between 1995 and 1999, North Carolina's incarceration rate has dropped by 10 percent and the state experienced a decline in crime.

The Iowa (Governor Thomas J. Vilsack-D) legislature amended the state's criminal code to downgrade the status of certain third-degree burglary offenses from a felony to a misdemeanor; to allow mitigation of the mandatory sentences required for certain offenses; and to lengthen the period of time to one year during which a judge may return a prisoner to court to reconsider whether the prison term originally imposed should be modified.

The Department of Corrections in Washington (Governor Gary Locke-D) has recommended a raft of sentencing policy changes this year as adjustments to the state's sentencing guidelines that would save an estimated 1,872 beds and $74.7 million.

V. Parole Reforms

The Texas Parole Board (Governor Rick Perry -R) has both increased the rate of parole release and reduced parole revocations, resulting in a marked decrease in Texas' prison population. In a little more than a year, the state's prison population dropped by 7,700 inmates, and average monthly parole revocations dropped by 26%.

By adopting parole release guidelines in tandem with sentencing guidelines, Ohio (Governor Bob Taft -R), officials were able to nearly double the number of parolees released from prison in 1999 as compared to 1995. Ohio's prison population has declined by nearly 6 percent since 1998, and the state plans to close a prison this year. In Kansas, (Governor Bill Graves-R) legislators mandated that probation and parole violators be sanctioned within the state's community corrections system rather then sent to prison, saving an estimated 774 prison beds.

In Mississippi, (Governor Ronnie Musgrove-D) legislators amended the sweeping "Truth in Sentencing" law they had passed in 1995 that abolished parole for all prisoners. Under the new law, nonviolent first offenders would regain eligibility for parole after they serve one-quarter of a prison sentence.

Alabama's Governor Don Siegelman (D) signed new legislation that directs the Alabama Department of Corrections staff to evaluate the public safety risk presented by nonviolent offenders sentenced under the state's habitual offender law. The changes may affect between 550 and 1,400 prisoners.

California's Legislative Analyst conducts an annual review of state sentencing laws to estimate cost and bed savings that could be gained by amending sentencing laws and parole practices - sort of a "prison cost savings audit." Just one of 10 recommendations analyzed last year - eliminating post-release supervision for non-serious, nonviolent, non-drug sale offenders, with no prior violent or drug sales conviction - would save an estimated $98.5 million annually.

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