JUSTICE BY NUMBERS

By William M. DiMascio
   Executive Director

For a state that is crying the blues about the costs of corrections, you'd think there would be some more questions raised by legislative overseers.

For instance, the number of state prisoners in 1971 was 5,284 and in fiscal year 2001 it had climbed to about seven times that amount at 36,810. At the same time, the DOC budget went from $33 million to more than $1 billion - that's 30 times higher. The cost of living rose about four fold during those years; that adjustment would drive up spending to $928 million, or some $130 million less than was actually spent.

Keep in mind that all these numbers relate to operational spending, not capital construction. The costs for building all the new prisons that were constructed over the last three decades came out of a separate budget.

So, the question is: what happened to the $130 million? Were there dramatic improvements in food service? Health care? General living conditions? Programming?

While they're at it, members of the House and Senate judiciary committees might want to give a little thought to sentencing or, more critically, to just how long we keep prisoners once they are sentenced. The Corrections Yearbook, a publication of the Criminal Justice Institute, is a useful source of data. Because of the time involved in collecting information from the states, the 2002 edition just recently arrived. At least two of the many date tables included should be of interest: one is a state-by-state comparison of the average length of sentence given at the start of 2002, and the other contains a similar comparison of the average length of stay for inmates released in 2001.

The state of Utah had the highest overall average sentence at 12.4 years or almost 149 months. Iowa was second at 11.8 years or more than 141 months. Pennsylvania was 8.1 years or 97 months. And the average nationally was 5.1 years or 61 months.

If all these numbers are making your eyes glaze over, just wait till you see what is on the next table.

Utah, despite its heavy-handed sentencing it turns out, had an average length of stay of just 19.4 months. And, Iowa kept prisoners an average of only 19 months. The national average for inmates released in 2001, in fact, was just 29.2 months. (Talk about truth in sentencing!)

The leader, among all states, was Pennsylvania with an average length of stay of 69 months. As it turns out, that is slightly higher than the 68.5 months recorded for the Keystone State in the Yearbook's report for inmates released in 2000 when the average nationally was 30.6 months.

These numbers paint a picture of the Commonwealth as moving in the wrong direction in terms of how long it confines its prisoners. Maybe those judiciary committees should be examining the reasons why we think it's important to imprison people more than twice as long as the national average. Are we making our streets twice as safe?

Another point that the appropriations committees might want to think about is this: What if we reduced confinement length by 10 percent across the board? How much of our operating budget could be saved? That kind of cut would reduce our average length of stay from 69 to 62 months. Pennsylvania would still be ahead of the second harshest state, Texas, which kept inmates for 55 months. If we saved 10 percent of the current DOC budget, it would amount to about $130 million.

Interesting coincidence, isn't it: $130 million here, $130 million there. First thing you know, you're talking about real money!