Out of State, Out of Mind

Thousands of people convicted of a crime in California or Alaska could soon be headed to Michigan to serve their time.

Michigan has succeeded in shrinking its prison population in the last year through a novel idea that shouldn't be so groundbreaking - releasing prisoners who are ready for release. But rather than building on this positive move, Gov. Jennifer Granholm wants the state to profit on the overcrowding of other states without progressive parole practices.

California is facing a crippling budget crisis and federal judges have ordered the state to address overcrowding immediately. But shipping prisoners out of sight isn't the way to fix the problem. Housing prisoners two thousand miles from their families and communities is a recipe for disaster. Many of our prisons already isolate convicts and destroy their chances at successful reentry by skimping on job training and limiting contact with support systems on the outside. This plan takes that isolation to a new level.

Ron Dzwonskowski says it well in the Detroit Free Press:

It is well established that the inmates who have the best chance of success after release are those who stay in contact with a support system of friends and family members on the outside who are truly concerned for their welfare. This gives inmates hope, improves conduct in prison and makes inmates less susceptible to undesirable influences on the inside. How many California or Alaska families are going to travel to Michigan for visitors’ weekends?

Of course, shipping inmates out of state is nothing new - even for California. The state already has 7,500 prisoners housed in private facilities in Arizona, Tennessee, Mississippi and Oklahoma. This would be the first time the Governator has shipped prisoners to another state's public prisons, however.

The savings sound big – California spends $45,000 per year per inmate, while Michigan spends $32,500 per prisoner. For every 1,000 prisoners California sends to Michigan, it stands to save $12 million a year. But California could also save that same $12 million by taking a page from Michigan’s playbook (and complying with a court order) and releasing prisoners who are eligible for parole. If the state chose to release elderly prisoners, the savings would be even greater because elderly prisoners cost more to house.

Criminal justice reform is moving forward in this country, and Michigan’s shrinking prison population is a prime example. But we need to be vigilant that we don’t compromise this progress with policies that simply fill prison beds from other sources. Once prisons are built and courtrooms get used to send people to those prisons, the momentum is hard to stop. Michigan is closer than most states to taking a big step and closing prisons. California and Alaska should reconsider their own policies before they simply fill empty beds in Michigan and keep the addiction to incarceration rolling.