Corrections Costs
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The High Cost of Longer Prison Terms
The length of time served in prison has increased markedly over the last two decades. These extended sentences have come at a price. more
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- Stateline Story
Health Care Costs Rising As Prison Population Grows And Ages
Prison inmates are the only Americans with a constitutional right to health care, and the cost to deliver it is on the rise. States spend 10 percent of their corrections budgets on average to cover the cost of inmate health care -- a total of over $3 billion annually. As the prison population increases, ages and increasingly suffers from chronic illnesses such as AIDS and hepatitis, state policy makers must either foot the bill, change the way health care is delivered or rethink the sentencing laws that led to the problem in the first place. more
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- Stateline Story
Crime Spending Exploding In Many States, Study Shows
State and local criminal justice spending nearly doubled between 1983 and 1995, thanks largely to public pressure for stricter law enforcement, a new study says. Phenomenon such as the war on drugs, `three strikes' laws and increased prison construction helped boost criminal justice budgets from $50.7 billion in 1983 to $96.1 billion in 1995, according to the Center for the Study of the States, which conducted the study. The center is a function of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany, N.Y. more