The Right and Wrong Ways to Shrink a Prison Population

Michigan's prison population is at a seven year low, and the state has closed two facilities this year. Several more are on the chopping block, as the state works to slice its corrections budget by paroling prisoners more quickly, offering alternatives to incarceration and (here's the scary one) packing more inmates into cells.

Michigan is ninth in the U.S. in incarceration rate. The state is planning to cut corrections spending - at $2 billion it is a disturbing one-fifth of the budget -by more than 5% in the next year.

"We have been paroling inmates at a rapid rate and the prison intake is down as well," said Russ Marlan, spokesman for the Corrections Department.

He said it looks like 1,070 people will be paroled from prison during May -- up 30 percent from last year.

(Gov. Jennifer) Granholm beefed up the size of the parole board this year to speed up the release of non-violent inmates who have served longer than their minimum term.

It's sad that it takes a recession to make parole work, but at least it's happening.

There's a dark side here, however (there always is). Michigan officials are also double-bunking prisoners in maximum security facilities to facilitate the prison closings and to cut costs. Crowding more prisoners into units not built to handle them is unsafe, unwise and inhumane.

Mel Grieshaber, executive director of the Michigan Corrections Organization, which represents 8,500 prison officers, said he fears the move will endanger inmates and guards.

"We totally oppose double-bunking maximum security inmates because it compounds an already dangerous situation," he said. "...When trouble starts in places like that, it spreads very quickly."

I don't usually agree with corrections officers unions, and even in this case they have their own jobs to protect, but they're also right that crowding prisons makes a bad situation worse. Gov. Granholm is doing a brave thing by expanding parole in the state to reduce corrections costs, even if it's for the wrong reasons. In politics sometimes you have to wait to do the right thing until it hits voters in their wallets. But it's dangerous and unproductive to cut costs through increased overcrowding and decreased prison services.

By prioritizing parole, Granholm has started something that will lead to a slimmer state corrections budget and will begin to rebuild lives and communities decimated by three decades of lock-em-up policies. She should keep her focus on productive reforms like parole and not fall into the trap of cutting corners without substantive change.

Here's a special report from the Detroit News on Michigan's sprawling corrections system and Granholm's efforts to cut it down.

Via Real Cost of Prisons