US 'releasing' inmates to save money

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 18:25:11 GMT

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=105487&sectionid=3510203

Amid a lingering economy downturn in the US, a report says mandatory sentencing laws are relaxed, parole is accelerated, and time off for good behavior is increased as states scramble to save money.

California, with the nation's second largest prison system, is considering perhaps the most dramatic solution, releasing 40,000 inmates to save money, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Some other states are revising mandatory-sentencing laws that locked up nonviolent offenders; others are recalculating prison time.

Nearly one-sixth of Colorado's prison population will accelerate parole.
Oregon has increased by 10 percent the time inmates get off their sentences for good behavior. Early release has already been granted to more than 30,000 prisoners in Kentucky.

"When you're not having budget troubles, that's when we implemented many of these lengthy drug sentences and zero-tolerance policies [that] really didn't work," said Russ Marlan, a spokesman for the corrections department in Michigan.

Over the last 20 years prison, budgets have grown steadily but a recent survey has shown that 26 states have cut their corrections budgets this year. The reductions range from putting in energy efficient light bulbs to changes like early release.

The parole board has started considering whom to let out, but the Republicans have overruled the plan as too risky.

"It's inevitable these people will commit crimes," said Colorado state Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry.