What is perhaps the most bizarre part of Mass Incarceration in America is the amount of money we are willing to throw at it, without caring much about how well our money is being spent. I would venture to say there is no other part of our budget that makes less sense than our incarceration funds. We spend about $31,307 on each inmate, each year. This does not take into account the lost tax revenue in having someone locked up and unable to do work. This does not take into account the burden on the economy of someone who is unable to find work because they have been labeled as a criminal. The total yearly cost nowadays is about $80 billion. Every US resident is paying about $260 annually on prisoners. This seems as if it would be against the fundamental beliefs and goals of both Republicans and Democrats. This is big government, wasteful spending. And to make matters worse, the average rate of recidivism is just over 50%. That means that we are spending $80 billion to fail half the time in reforming our former criminals. Wouldn't this money be better spent of schools? Hospitals? Jobs? Literally ANYTHING ELSE? I would argue that we could see lower recidivism if we put that money towards mental health care and therapy for inmates. We have let this go on too long, and we can all stand to gain from reforming our prisons, and putting our money towards things that work.
Read More in a report about the Economics of Incarceration
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AuthorWilliam has been an advocate for Prison Reform for about a year. He began getting involved with "Strong Returns: Millennial Prison Reform," and became the Georgia state captain. ArchivesCategories |