Overcoming Recidivism

It is important to understand the problem of recidivism. For the first time in history, more than one in every 100 adults in America are in jail or prison. According to a report released by the Pew Center on the States' Public Safety Performance Project, at the start of 2008, there were 2,310,258 adults being held in American prisons or jails. That is one in every 99.1 men and women.

The report, One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008 says that the prison population rose by more than 25,000 inmates during 2007. The purpose of the report is to identify how corrections spending compares to other state investments, why it is increasing, and what some states are doing to limit growth in prison populations and costs while maintaining public safety. Costs to states are rising. as the prison population expands. During the year before the report, the states spent $49 billion on corrections. Annual spending only 20 years before was $11 billion.

The report says that the annual recidivism rate remains virtually unchanged. Approximately half of all prisoners released return to jail or prison within three years..

"For all the money spent on corrections today, there hasn't been a clear and convincing return for public safety," said Adam Gelb, director of the Public Safety Performance Project. "More and more states are beginning to rethink their reliance on prisons for lower-level offenders and finding strategies that are tough on crime without being so tough on taxpayers."

"States are paying a high cost for corrections -- one that may not be buying them as much in public safety as it should. And spending on prisons may be crowding out investments in other valuable programs that could enhance a state's economic competitiveness," said Susan K. Urah, managing director of the Pew Center on the States. "There are other choices. Some state policy makers are expimenting with a range of community punishments that are as effective as incarceration in protecting public safety and allow states to put the brakes on prison growth."

Some of the experiments include a mix of community based programs such as day reporting centers, treatment facilities, electronic monitoring systems and community service -- tactics recently adopted in Kansas and Texas,

Other programs being tested as interventions, in Kansas and Nevada, involves making small reductions in prison terms for inmates who complete substance abuse treatment and other programs designed to cut back their risk of recidivism.

The question remains. Why are people returning to prisons at such an enormous rate?