By Timothy McNulty
From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- Auditor General Jack Wagner, state Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, and others renewed their call Friday for legislation to stem the growth of Pennsylvania’s prison population, which is the fastest growing in the nation.
Mr. Greenleaf -- a former Montgomery County prosecutor -- has long supported tackling booming incarceration rates by giving nonviolent offenders alternatives to prison, sticking to minimum sentences and investing in re-entry programs to address recidivism. He is making another bid to get legislative approval for an omnibus sentencing bill this year by noting the changes make economic sense as well.
The state’s prison population is five times greater than it was 30 years ago and the price per prisoner has nearly tripled from $11,447 a year in 1980 to $32,059 in 2009, according to data from Mr. Wagner’s office. Lately the state’s prison population has outpaced all other states (it added 2,122 inmates in 2009 to Florida’s 1,527) and the Department of Corrections budget has been forced to keep pace, increasing in cost to about $1.9 billion and helping to balloon the state’s estimated $4 billion deficit.
Read more at Post-Gazette.com.