Holder: States need to save on prisons

Attorney General Eric Holder said that states must spend less on incarcerating criminals in the U.S. because the current funding rate is not sustainable, especially in the wake of an economic recession.

Holder, speaking at the European Offenders Employment Forum on Friday, said that the cost of housing state prisoners is four times as much as it was 20 years ago.

“State spending on corrections has grown at a faster rate than nearly any other state budget item,” said Holder. “Last year, the price tag on state prisons topped $50 billion. The current pace of prison growth is, quite frankly, no longer economically sustainable. And from a cost-benefits perspective, it’s simply indefensible.”

Holder was at the forum in Washington D.C. to announce the funding of a $100 million prisoner re-entry program, the Second Chance Act, which will provide 178 grants for state, local, and tribal governments, as well as non-profit organizations. The grants will be used to help released prisoners re-enter society by using job and housing placement tools, amongst many others, he said.

Holder pointed to the 975 applicants that the Justice department received for the grants as proof that the U.S. is transforming its “national attitude toward reentry.” More people are seeing re-entry programs as a viable alternative to incarceration.

“To put it simply, reentry has moved from the margins to the mainstream,” he said.

“Some violent offenders deserve lengthy prison terms and society is better off having them behind bars,” he said. “But – as we’re seeing in states like Texas and Kansas – public safety can improve and taxpayers can see significant savings when people who commit crimes are served by high-quality community supervision and programs where services and sanctions work in unison.”

Ninety-five percent of the 2.3 million people who are incarcerated in the U.S. will eventually be released back into society, according to statistics compiled by the Justice department’s Office of Justice Program.

Holder acknowledged that the U.S. faces “a formidable challenge” in trying to transform the country’s approach towards battling recidivism.   

“I can’t pretend that changing entrenched criminal justice policies, especially in the wake of an economic recession, is easy work,” he said. “But, by joining together, I believe that we can realize our shared vision of safe, thriving communities.”

Holder announced that $10 million would be spent on researching the efficacy of the programs some of the millions while some of the new funding would also be put towards opening the National Resource Center, “a one stop shop” that would serve as a searchable library for organizations and departments to find the most effective programs and practices.