BILL LODGE
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NEW ORLEANS — In Louisiana last year, 857 of every 100,000 residents were in prison - a rate that led the nation, federal records show.
Statistics released by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics are for the first half of 2007. Officials note Louisiana also led the nation, with 824 inmates per 100,000 residents, in a similar study completed in 2005.
At 723, Mississippi had the second-highest rate of imprisonment in early 2007.
The bureau’s report was released at a time when the nonprofit Pew Charitable Trusts concluded that taxpayers are losing bang from their bucks because of decisions by many states to imprison more offenders for longer periods. Pew researchers said such policies are draining money from other programs, such as education and health care.
“Prison costs are blowing holes in state budgets but barely making a dent in recidivism rates,” Pew researchers conclude in a report titled “One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008.”
Those costs to state budgets totaled more than $44 billion last year, according to Pew.
Cecile Guin, director of the Office of Social Service Research and Development at LSU, expressed frustration over the federal statistics and Pew’s findings.
“We cannot get our correctional policy to change in this state,” Guin said. “Over the last 10 years, violent crime has decreased, but incarceration continues to increase.”
Guin added: “Somewhere down the line, this state is going to have to choose between incarceration and education.”
Pew researchers note that Louisiana spends 46 cents on corrections for every dollar it spends on higher education.
“As state budgets shrink, the choices are becoming more and more painful,” said Adam Gelb, who directed the study that resulted in the Pew report. “We’re seeing cuts in education and health care and other pressing priorities.”
Across the nation, Pew researchers said, the annual cost of holding a younger prisoner ranges from $23,000 to about $35,000. Older prisoners, they said, cost about $70,000 a year because of medical and other problems.
“Some crimes are so heinous they warrant a lifetime behind bars,” the Pew report observes. “But states are spending more and more on inmates who are less and less of a threat to public safety.”
Russell Jones, the Jesse N. Stone Professor of Law at Southern University, said Louisiana’s pockets of poverty and lack of achievement in public education are contributing to the state’s prison population.
“We need to do a better job,” Jones said. “We’re at the bottom of education in terms of graduating students. But we’re at the top in terms of incarceration.
“It’s just basic common sense. I don’t believe we can continue to incarcerate people at this rate. We’re going to hit a tipping point,” Jones said.
William J. Sabol, the lead researcher on the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics study, would not offer recommendations to officials of Louisiana or any other states.
“That’s a legislative and judicial issue,” Sabol said.
He did note that many states may be pressed to fund the expansion of prison facilities.
Sabol said Louisiana’s prison facilities are operating at about 115 percent of capacity and that the average for other states is about 114 percent.
“They (state officials) are starting to feel some pressure from overcrowding,” he said.
Pew’s Gelb said parole and other non-prison correction techniques do not have to translate into higher crime rates.
“You can spend less money and have less crime,” Gelb said. He noted that Louisiana’s crime rates were similar to those of Arkansas and Maryland in 2005 - yet Louisiana’s incarceration rate was nearly double.
“More and more states are finding that they’re not getting their money’s worth in terms of public safety,” Gelb said.
At LSU, Guin said she neither believes in coddling violent offenders nor advocates easy treatment for others who seriously hurt society. But she said many legislators are reluctant to search for smarter ways to deal with convicted criminals because they fear they will appear weak to voters.
“It’s about like political suicide to say these things,” Guin said.
Louisiana may top the charts for its incarceration rate, but Pew researchers reported plenty of other states work hard to fill their prisons.
“The United States incarcerates more people (2.3 million) than any country in the world, including the far more populous nation of China (1.5 million),” according to the report by Pew, which has its principal offices in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
Imprisonment rates
The U.S. had a higher imprisonment rate than any of 26 European countries surveyed in 2007. Italy and Denmark had the lowest rates. Rates are per 100,000 residents and include local jails as well as prisons.
* U.S.: 750
* Russia: 628
* Czech Republic: 186
* Spain: 147
* Scotland: 142
* Germany: 93
* Belgium: 91
* Sweden: 79
* Italy: 67
* Denmark: 67
Source: The Pew Center on the States, which also credited the International Centre for Prison Studies at King’s College, London.
ON THE INTERNET:
“One in 100 Behind Bars in America 2008"
http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/report_detail.aspx?id=35904
How the states rank
As of June 30, Louisiana had the highest rate of imprisonment in the nation - with 857 prisoners per 100,000 residents. The four states with the highest imprisonment rates were:
1. Louisiana: 857
2. Mississippi: 723
3. Texas: 682
4. Oklahoma: 670
The states with the lowest imprisonment rates were:
49. Minnesota: 190
50. Maine: 133
Source: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics
U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics
Copyright 2008 Capital City Press