Cost of Convicts

Excellent op-ed in the NYT today regarding the high costs of our incarceration system.

Essentially, prisons are very expensive, and our high national incarceration rate is a major money hole. Reformation of our prison system can drastically reduce costs, which can be spent on better things, like..say, education or health care. Costs are tremendous. California spends $49,000 per inmate annually, $216,000 on each juvenile inmate. Compare this to $8,000 on each student in the Oakland school system.

According to a 2001 DOJ report (because it was the only one I could find...why is it so hard to get these numbers?), Wisconsin spent $709,202,000 on its prison system. That's a cost of roughly $132 per Wisconsin resident, and that $28,622 per inmate.

The causes of these high costs are documented in the article. Harsh sentences for drug-related offenses, programs like the "three-strike rule", and incarceration for many non-violent crimes (82% of all inmates are in prison for non-violent crimes). Kristof offers some possible solutions to reducing costs, which got me thinking.

One solution is to expand the use of the death penalty. But statistics show that harsher penalties have little effect on offenders, and the appeals system will actually keep prisoners incarcerated longer, not to mention the trial costs. But here's a better idea: If a prisoner can pay for their own stay, they should. Drug dealers, white-collar criminals, anyone who makes money illegally should pay for their stay. Would anyone have a problem if we said that Bernie Madoff would have to spend his own money to cover the costs of keeping him in prison? I, in fact, would find it more fitting. The government, in this situation, actually makes money off the offender rather than losing it.

Just an idea. Prison reform merits examination.