New Hampshire isn’t the only state making drastic cuts in its prison budget. Around the country, local legislators say they can’t afford the high cost of incarceration. They already pay more than $35 billion a year for prisons, and while the number of inmates continues to rise–from 680,000 in 1990 to more than 1.2 million in 2002–state revenues are falling.
To meet the shortfall, ambitious prison-building projects are being shelved and existing facilities closed. State corrections authorities are slashing overtime for guards. Last week in California some inmates in three prisons were put on “fiscally driven lockdown” because staffing levels were so low. Some states have even resorted to feeding inmates less. Virginia now serves inmates two meals a day on weekends and holidays, and Texas has reduced the daily calorie intake for prisoners from 2,700 to 2,500.
One sure way to keep incarceration costs down is to reduce the prison population, and now conservative Republicans are spearheading that charge. Fifteen states, including Alabama, Nebraska, Louisiana and Kansas, have rolled back their stringent sentencing laws–shifting away from the get-tough-on-crime laws of the 1990s. Now it’s the taxpayer who needs some compassion.
