Prison population likely to rise
Posted On Friday, February 16, 2007 at at 12:17 PM by Dan
Same story as before, but this is from the Altanta-Journal Constitution.
By CARLOS CAMPOS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/15/07
A report released Wednesday on the nation's growing prison population estimates Georgia will add more than 5,700 inmates in the next five years at a cost of $98 million. But those estimates might be too conservative.
The forecast of America's prison population was done for The Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Charitable Trusts.
The report estimates that the nation's state and federal prison population will rise by more than 192,000 inmates over the next five years to a total of 1.7 million people, or one of every 178 Americans.
The national cost of incarcerating those new inmates is estimated at as much as $27.5 billion, according to the report.
No state is projected to see a decrease in inmate population, though three — Connecticut, Delaware and New York — expect no growth.
"Every additional dollar spent on prisons, of course, is one dollar less that can go to preparing for the next Hurricane Katrina, educating young people, providing health care to the elderly or repairing roads and bridges," according to the report's executive summary.
There are 53,122 inmates in Georgia's prisons today, according to the Department of Corrections. The department's budget tops $1 billion per year.
The Pew report estimates Georgia's prison population will grow by 11 percent by 2011, to 59,449.
The report uses an annual operating cost per inmate of $17,017.
But Georgia Corrections Commissioner James Donald routinely says the state prison system takes in about 20,000 new inmates per year and releases about 18,000.
Using those rough numbers, that would be a net increase of about 2,000 inmates per year.
By Donald's projections, the prison system in Georgia would grow by 10,000 inmates over the next five years at an operating cost of more than $170.1 million.
Tracy Smith, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, said the agency is adding new beds to keep pace with the growth.
"We are well prepared for what's coming at us and handling it rather well, to say the least," Smith said.
Smith provided an internal document Wednesday that projects the state prison population will reach anywhere between 63,000 to 66,000 in 2011, far more than the number projected by Pew.
The Pew report also notes a rise in the number of women and inmates convicted of meth-related crimes.
