[NYTr] US prison system 'costly failure'

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

BBC - 19 November 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7102054.stm


US prison system 'costly failure'

The US prison population has risen eight-fold since 1970, with little
impact on crime but at great cost to the taxpayer, researchers say.

There are more than 1.5 million people in US state and federal jails, a
report by a Washington-based criminal justice research group, the JFA
Institute says.

Inmate numbers are projected to rise by 192,000 in five years, costing
$27.5bn (£13.44bn) to build and run jails.

The JFA recommends reducing the number and length of sentences.

The Unlocking America report, which was published on Monday, also
advocated changing terms of parole and finding alternatives to prison
as part of a major overhaul of the US justice system.

"There is no evidence that keeping people in prison longer makes us any
safer," said JFA president James Austin.

Women convicts

The report said that US crime rates, which have been in decline since
the 1990s, are about the same as those for 1973.

It says the incarceration rate has soared because sentences have got
longer and those who violate parole or probation are more likely to be
given prison terms.

The report said that every year hundreds of thousands of Americans are
sent to jail "for crimes that pose little if any danger or harm to
society".

It cited several examples including a Florida woman's two-year sentence
for throwing a cup of coffee at another car in a traffic row.

Its recommendations run counter to the Bush administration's policy of
longer, harsher sentences, which the government says has contributed to
falling violent crime and murder figures.

The JFA researchers found that women represented the fastest-growing
sector of the US prison population.

The report was funded by the Rosenbaum Foundation and the Open Society
Institute.

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