For some departments in state government, shaving the budget is difficult. For the R.I. Department of Corrections, it’s virtually impossible, says Director A.T. Wall.
In fact, to meet Gov. Donald L. Carcieri’s request for a fiscal 2008 budget that was 15 percent lower than 2007’s, Wall said, his department had to propose shutting down several facilities and selling the property – a prospect that the governor immediately rejected.
The problem is overpopulation. Wall, who has been in corrections for 20 years, remembers when the state’s prison population hit 1,000 inmates. Now it’s inching toward 4,000.
“We have an iron-clad no refusal policy,” Wall said. “If the court says you have to come, we have to take you in. That’s why it’s unrealistic for us to propose reduction options when the population is soaring.”
Carcieri’s budget proposal for 2008 seeks to stem that growth and actually cut the inmate population by 500, saving $4 million and allowing for the closure of some prison units. To help meet his goal, Carcieri would invest an extra $985,250 in the community corrections program, which seeks to put more people on probation and in home confinement instead of behind bars.
Beyond that, however, the governor did not specify how he’d reduce the prison population, calling instead for a collaboration between all three branches of government to find solutions.
“Over the next several months, my administration will work with the General Assembly and the judiciary to outline a set of alternative sentencing and corrections options that will enable us to reduce the number of inmates by 500 from the currently projected levels,” Carcieri said last month, adding that the reform would save the state “many millions more in the future.”
According to Wall, the spike in the prison population affects all the facilities he sees – men’s and women’s – at all security levels and at the intake centers.
In fiscal 2007, the state expects 19,752 commitments to the state prison system, nearly 5,000 more than in 1997 and 1,300 more in 2006.
As a result, midway through the fiscal year, the prison population was averaging 3,741 – 400 more than was budgeted for. (The state’s total prison capacity, not counting hospital beds, is 3,892.) Wall said that the average length of inmates’ stays has held steady, so a higher number of arrests and convictions is the primary driver behind the surge.
Each inmate costs an average of $40,000 per year, so the population increase has wrought havoc, pushing corrections spending $4 million ahead of the budget.
“We are bursting at the seams here,” Wall said. “The staff has had to work very hard for the system to continue to function smoothly.”
Richard P. Brederson, a Providence-based criminal defense attorney, said any effort to keep convicted criminals who do not pose a threat to the community at large is positive. Brederson represents many drug offenders who he said are guilty of “victimless, nonviolent” crimes.
Recidivism is a major driver of the prison population, Brederson noted, and the way to address it is to dedicate more resources to treatment programs. “The incarceration doesn’t cure the problem, but the treatment would,” he said.
Rhode Island does have a drug court that allows judges to order treatment rather than imprisonment, but the program’s federal funding runs out this year. Carcieri’s budget doesn’t include money for the program.
Sol Rodriguez, executive director of the Family Life Center on Broad Street in Providence, which works to transition inmates back into society, said it would be a “shame” to close the drug court.
“It diverts quite a few people from ending up in the prison system,” Rodriguez said. “And yet, it’s looking like the state is not going to pick up this program.”
But Deputy Attorney General Gerald Coyne said he’s not sure that many drug offenders should be offered sentences alternatives. He questioned the notion that most drug crimes are nonviolent and noted that in many cases, drug users commit crimes such as robbery and shoplifting to support their habits.
Any solution to the surging inmate population would likely include increased drug treatment and probation efforts, he said. But many offenders who are given a second chance squander it, offending again while they’re on probation or under a suspended sentence.
“When somebody is faced with that kind of ultimatum and still goes out and commits a crime, I’m not sure what people would suggest the best alternative is,” Coyne said.
Rhode Island’s parole and probation system is also among the most burdened in the country, Coyne said. As of last September, the state had 26,827 people on probation or parole, including 11,873 who were under active supervision.
Wall estimates 41 percent of the state’s released inmates return within 12 months, a sign that he said points to a need for increased transitioning efforts.
The Department of Corrections runs a number of programs for inmates, including skills training and GED courses. But without adequate funding, it’s hard for prisoners to be fully prepared to re-enter society, Wall said.
“We know that there are certainly offenders that are committed to a criminal lifestyle,” Wall said. “They will be released, and they will commit more crimes. But when the number returning is that high in such a short period of time, it raises questions about how well inmates are prepared to cope when they leave prison and go back to their own communities.”
For the Family Life Center’s Rodriguez, part of the issue is a lack of available opportunities for ex-convicts. Employers and landlords can legally discriminate against convicts, making it difficult for released inmates to get jobs and find affordable housing.
Rodriguez also said that the state’s drug treatment programs fall short of the need, and that it won’t be possible to reduce the number of commitments without ensuring that people can get the treatment they need.
“You’ve got to spend money to save money,” Rodriguez said. “The responsible thing is to figure out how we are going to help those people when they are released. If we don’t, they’re either going to end up back in the system … or, without diversionary programs, we’re going to have 500 new people going to prison.”
