The Pew Center for the States got a lot of press last year for a report that showed more than 1 in 100 Americans, at least 1 percent of the population, is behind bars. This week they've released an equally staggering report showing that 1 in 31 are in some phase of the correctional system, in jail, prison, parole or probation. The report notes that in the past 20 years, corrections spending has increased 300 percent, and it's focused almost entirely on prisons. The cost to the taxpayer for this increased spending is about $68 billion a year--with little to show for it. Recidivism rates remain largely unchanged because our "corrections" system doesn't correct anything--it's effective in keeping people locked up but it does little to prevent the formerly incarcerated from returning to a life of crime.
The report says that strong community supervision programs can have an effect on recidivism. Part of the problem is we have little idea about which programs work and which don't; last year Congress took an important first step in passing the Second Chance Act, which provided more funding for such programs. But improving community supervision is also a matter of reforming parole, as it stands parole officers' performance has little effect on retaining their jobs, and there's little incentive for them to play a more involved role in the lives of their parolees. While reentry programs, staffed as they are by highly motivated people who often have some personal connection to the reentry process, not a lot of time has been spent evaluating how well these programs work. That's the cost of spending so much on prisons but little on figuring out how best to deal with former inmates when they get out.
The Obama Administration has set aside more $109 million in the budget for reentry programs under money allotted to the Department of Justice, but it would be nice to see more of an emphasis on reforming parole.
-- A. Serwer