Financial Contingency Planning: Sources of Funding in Hawai'i Corrections System

The United States prison system is considered today to be one of the most flawed and corrupt systems of the modern world. Given this fact, it is unsurprising that one of the most talked about issues in the US today is prison reform. Prison reform is a phrase which refers to the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, establishing a more effective penal system, or implementing alternatives to incarceration. The US has spent the past twenty years gradually working to improve its prisons, and even recently strives to better the federal and state prison system as a whole. One of the main goals of prison reform is reducing recidivism, which is the chance of an incarcerated person re-offending. One of the main ways to do this is to give inmates ways to spend their time that will better them and prepare them to re-enter society as a fully productive, rehabilitated citizen. This facet of prison reform is the basis for the Prison Reform and Redemption Act of 2017. This bill, which was to be reviewed on Wednesday, April 25 but is

Ever since the first prison opened in the United States in 1790, incarceration has been the center of the nations criminal justice system. Over this 200 year period many creative alternatives to incarceration have been tried, and many at a much lower cost than imprisonment. It wasn’t until the late 1980’s when our criminal justice systems across the country began experiencing a problem with overcrowding of facilities. This problem forced lawmakers to develop new options for sentencing criminal offenders.

In short the United States judicial system sends criminal offenders into the largest prison system in the world, where the increasing population forces overcrowding, widens the gap between state spending and revenue and fails to prevent recidivism; we must re-evaluate and reduce our current prison system in order to reduce state debt as well as provide inmates with livable conditions and keep them from returning to prison.

By the end of the year 2013, California must reduce its state prison population by 46,000 inmates, which is at least 137.5 percent of its design capacity intended to hold 80,000 inmates only (Galik, 2013). With the staggering record of prison inmates, resources have become limited, creating a bigger concern for the health and safety of inmates and prison employees. If there are no solutions to reduce the prison population from overcrowding, one other major concern many people fear is the early release of serious offenders back into society.

Considering the cost of new programs, budget shortfalls and cutbacks the state of Hawaii is experiencing at this time, we ask? What benefits would the state incur by immediately implementing an incarcerated offender reentry plan? Additionally, we ask? How would the immediate implementation of an incarcerated offender reentry plan affect a community’s economy and security? Perhaps, to effectively consider the impact of these questions I will need to determine why there is a need to immediately implement an incarcerated offender reentry plan. To do that, I will consider some statistical data: the Bureau of Justice Statistics (2008) tells us it has been estimated nationally 95% of all incarcerated people are eventually released into the

Punishments are no longer as cruel, the death penalty has been lifted in multiple states, and prisoners are being treated in a more equal manner, but the system should continue to be improved even more to accomplish what needs to be done in order to make the streets safer. Crime has changed from what it once was in the past. Rates have gone up and people appear to be behaving in a more difficult manner. The government cannot afford to continue treating prisoners the way they once did in the past. Reform is not just for the prisoners. Reform is for the people in the communities of America. But there appears to be a few setbacks when it comes to reform, and one of those setbacks is cost. Though according to Gary C. Mohr, “Criminal justice systems can be people-oriented, evidence-based and cost-effective while remaining focused on the safety and well-being of those living in the different communities.” Therefore, cost should not be an excuse as to why the system cannot be reformed, especially when it comes to public safety. In fact, there should be no excuses when it comes to public safety. Prisons should do what must be

In the 1970s and 1980s, a massive amount of inmates began fillin up the United States prison systems. This huge rate of growth in this short amount of time, has greatly contributed to the prison overcrowding that the United States faces today. In fact, the prisons are still filled to the seams. This enormous flood of inmates has made it practically impossible for prison officials to keep up with their facilities and supervise their inmates. One of the main reasons why many prisons have become overcrowded is because of states’ harsh criminal laws and parole practices (Cohen). “One in every 100 American adults is behind bars, the highest incarceration rate in the world” (Cohen). The amount of inmates in corrections systems, throughout the

One public policy issue that is attracting a great deal of attention is the matter of prison reform. While a great many members of the public support improvements in the safety, security and quality of life in prisons, few will endorse this at the expense of the same for law-abiding citizens. However, according to Koh (2013), Texas is currently facing one such dilemma. According to Koh, "prison reforms may result in better conditions for inmates, but those improvements come at the expense of welfare cash assistance and other government relief for the needy, according to a study released this month by Rice University and Louisiana State University." (Koh, p. 1)

With these statistics in mind the budget and inmate population is likely to increase as time goes on if action is not taken in the near future. A large portion of the increase could be attributed to the national war on drugs and Wisconsin’s truth in sentencing laws which have led to more people being arrested and those who are arrested remaining in correctional facilities for a longer period of time. These policy actions coincide with the rise of the budget and inmate numbers as can be seen that the DOC budget went from Wisconsin’s 7th largest expenditure in 1989 to it 3rd largest in 2009(Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, 2010). One solution suggested to reducing the budget is to try to reduce the number of people being returned to prison without a new sentence as in 2014 they made up 42.9% of prison admissions (WI DOC, 2014) some of these have been for technical violations such as showing up late for a meeting with a parole supervisors. The suggestion to reduce these prison admissions would be for sanctions courts to be set up which don’t send the parolee back to prison for technical violations straight away but rather sanctions them with actions such as electronic monitoring, counseling or community service, a similar program to this has already been tried in

Therefore, if we reduce the overcrowding rate, what are we going to do with all the criminals not headed to jail or prison? Well, that brings us to step four: realizing the benefits of the alternatives to incarceration. Because building prisons puts a terrible strain on most state’s budgets, taxpayers have been more willing to consider programs that might cost less- as long as they also control and punish crimes appropriately. Alternatives saves the taxpayers money along with strengthening families and communities by keeping them together and allowing criminals to contribute to the community like paying taxes and getting a job.(Alternatives, 2) 77% of adults believe alternatives are the best way to deal with non-violent and non-serious offenders. Alternative promote good behavior by advertising the possibility of “good-time credits” which allow prisoners to reduce their sentence with good behavior. (Overcrowding, 1) These types of benefits will surely make an impact on our society for the better.

As the years go by and population continues to increase, so will crime rates and the number of people that will enter the criminal justice system. In Hawaii prison population as of May 31, 2015 is 5,998, slightly down from years past but not much at all. The question lies what three solutions would be proposed to regain integrity and effectiveness to the system?

Although there have been attempts to rectify the problem of recidivism and jail overcrowding, many attempts have proven to be costly. The City Council’s recent decision

Due to budget crises in states across the United States of America, state governments must cut funding to their punishment facilities causing overcrowding in prisons to increase every day. Overcrowded prisons pose a potential breeding ground for crime as hundreds of inmates are squeezed into small accommodations. Thousands of low-level offenders receive jail sentences each day, these criminals make up about a third of the inmates in the United States. In the words of Republican Governor Mitch Daniels of India, in the conservative National Review magazine, “We are imprisoning, in our most expensive spaces, more people for relatively minor, nonviolent offenses, like low-level property and drug violations. Some of our guests are not with the state corrections system long enough for any rehabilitation, substance-abuse counseling or job training to take place” (Katel). Evidently attention and change to this neglected criminal punishment system need to be addressed. This issue remains a troubling problem in our country, state governments offer the best possible solutions to prison overcrowding such as directing local officials to perform and improve prison construction, rethinking criminal law and responding to budgetary concerns.

These measures were taken to ensure public safety but are now posing a problem for our correctional facilities. Overcrowding and budgets are among the problems brought about by these measures. Both the state and federal correctional population throughout the United States have steadily seen significant increases in their population, every year for the past decades. Based on the census found on the Bureau of Justice website, the data collected between June 30th 2000 to December 30th 2005 showed that prisoners held in custody between federal and state prisons increased by 10%. (“Bureau of Justice Statistics”, p.1 -2)

This meeting is called to discuss the rehabilitation of the penal system. Jails and prisons are over loaded with inmates costing the tax payers millions of dollars each year. The state needs to come up with a deterrent or other options to help lessen the amount of people being incarcerated for misdemeanors and really focus on crimes that are considered violent felonies, and people who commit identity theft and embezzle money from the elderly.