Keeping a prisoner in a California prison costs more than a year of study at Harvard
It is expected that the cost of maintaining each of the 130 thousands of prisoners in California will reach a record level of $ 75 560 next year.
How many?
More than the cost of a year of study at Harvard University, and still remain for beer and pizza.
Governor Jerry Brown’s spending plan for the fiscal year that begins on July 1 includes a record amount of $ 11,4 billion for the prison service. At the same time, he predicts that in 4, the number of prisoners will be reduced by 11 500 people, because the jury approved an earlier release for many prisoners.
The cost of housing a prisoner has doubled since 2005, even as the prison population has fallen by almost a quarter. The increase in price is due to changes in the salary fund for prison guards and medical workers. Since 2015, spending per prisoner in California has increased by nearly $10, or about 13%. New York takes second place - about $69 thousand.
Experts say that costs will decrease if the number of prisoners decreases.
“There are fewer prisoners now, but the prison service is running the same,” said Chris Henault, a liberal who is executive director of the California Budget and Policy Center.
For example, the 1 prison officer was 2 prisoners, while in 1994, the 1 prison officer was 4 prisoners.
Why such a price?
Costs are rising, even when the number of prisoners decreases. California sued for overcrowding in prisons, and the Brown administration now holds most of the lower-level offenders in city prisons instead of state prisons. In addition, voters in 2014 reduced fines for crimes related to drugs and property, and approved an earlier release last fall.
State senator Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber) said reformers falsely promised "dividends in prisons" from the savings associated with the changes. Instead, there is a surge in many crimes, and he is worried that this will lead to an influx of new prisoners, the contents of which will be even more expensive.
Joan Petersiglia, co-director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center, said it is "very predictable" that per-prisoner costs will increase even as prison populations decline. “We released all the less dangerous prisoners, those who required lower costs of detention, and kept the dangerous prisoners who require more costs from the state,” she said.
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