JFA Report Offers Ways to Reduce the Prison Population

The JFA Institute released a new report this month entitled Unlocking America: How to Reduce America's Prison Population. The report analyzes why the prison system has grown so significantly in recent years and offers specific recommendations for how states and the federal government can reduce the number of people incarcerated. The report's recommendations include:

1. Reducing time served in prison;
2. Eliminate the use of prison for parole or probation technical violators;
3. Reduce the length of parole and probation supervision periods; and
4. Decriminalize “victimless” crimes, particularly those related to drug use and abuse.

Texas legislators and voters recently approved the construction of three new prison units to meet the need of the state's growing prison population. The report offers a good overview of how the prison population can be controlled and ultimately reduced without new expansion.

The report also cites the financial interests that undermine efforts of sentencing reform that can lead to the reduction in the prison population. In the concluding remarks, the authors state:

We also recognize that as the system of imprisonment has grown, so too has the investment and the vested interests that support its operations and growth. In order to reverse the current trends we will have to find a way to re-allocate the money, political influence, and jobs that the current system provides. This will not be easy and it will take many years to wean us off the excessive use of imprisonment.

Related posts include:

1. TX Voters Approve Prison Expansion
2. More Prison Beds on the Way
3. Who's Lobbying for Texas Private Prisons?
4. Legislative Update
5. 80th Legislative Session: Mixed Results on Private Prisons