Criminal Justice

Late last month, the Independent Fiscal Office released its annual report looking at Pennsylvania's economy and forecasting state budget expenditures and revenues. The trends remain alarming.

Most notably, state government is spending more than it is collecting in revenue this year (using remaining surpluses to fill in the gap), and that shortfall is set to widen in future years. The general fund gap will reach $2.2 billion by 2017-18.

This shortfall will be driven by dramatic increases in pension contributions (which will also affect school districts and local governments), Medicaid costs, and debt payments.

As intimidating as that seems, the IFO forecasts assume "current policy"—things will likely get worse. For starters, the IFO assumes spending in discretionary areas like education and transportation will only change with population and inflation; any additional spending lawmakers want will add to those deficits. And the IFO does not include the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, which could cost the commonwealth upwards of another $5 billion over the next few years.

On the bright side, the IFO forecasts corrections spending—one of the "four alarms" we've been highlighting—will slow and shrink as a share of the budget over the next five years thanks to landmark corrections reform enacted this year.

Lawmakers must tackle unsustainable pension and welfare spending with the same sort of bipartisan solutions before Pennsylvania's budgetary fire becomes an inferno, and families and business are burned with massive tax hikes.

On Tuesday, Pennsylvania passed the final piece, House Bill 135, of a landmark corrections reform package that transforms our ailing prison system to one that works better for YOU.

Commonwealth Foundation applauds Gov. Tom Corbett and Sec. Wetzel for their leadership and thanks House and Senate members for their unanimous bipartisan support for real corrections reform via SB 100 and HB 135.

Over the past 30 years, Pennsylvania's incarceration rate exploded more than 500 percent to over 50,000 inmates.  As a result, taxpayers spend 17 times as much on the Department of Corrections today as they did in 1980.  At a cost of $35,000 per inmate per year, it is not a stretch to say taxpayers have been ill served by a system that locks up more people for longer periods, but fails to deter future crimes.

Here's a look at how these reforms offer a new 21st Century vision for criminal justice and provides better outcomes for taxpayers, communities and offenders:

• Taxpayers:  The reforms are projected to save more than $250 million within five years.  States such as New York and Texas have embraced similar policy changes, saving tax dollars while significantly reducing both their crime and imprisonment rates. 
• Communities: Part of the savings will be used to create a more effective correctional system and safer communities. These programs encourage smarter policing procedures, such as "hot spot" policing  and proven practices to reduce the number of repeat offenders.
• Offenders: Provides funding and utilizes more efficient communication technology to increase parole hearing capacity. Currently, system inefficiencies and lack of capacity have resulted in 1,900 inmates locked up in prison when they would otherwise qualify for parole. This costs taxpayers more than $66 million per year.

We here at CF are proud to be part, along with Gov. George M. Leader, his family, and many others, of a transpartisan coalition favoring "real corrections reform, right now." We are pleased these reforms provide meaningful changes to save tax dollars while improving public safety.

Under Gov. Tom Corbett's leadership, Pennsylvania unanimously passed (Senate Bill 100) part of a landmark corrections reform package last session.

SB 100, now Act 122 of 2012, aims to reduce both crime and imprisonment rates in Pennsylvania, while providing upwards of $300 million in savings over the next five years. The bill's effectiveness, however, depends on passing HB 135—currently stuck in the Senate—which would reinvest a portion of the savings in programs that create a more cost effective and smarter correctional system.

• The programs waiting to be funded would encourage smarter policing procedures, whether it be "hot spot" policing, or improving parole procedures. The bill also funds programs aimed at reducing the number of repeat offenders.
• One of the key programs funded through HB 135 is a county diversion program that ensures counties have the resources to handle nonviolent offenders with short sentences locally, instead of sending them to costly state prisons where they can be influenced by hardened criminals.

Together, Act 22 and HB 135 allow us the opportunity to reinvest a small portion of our savings to ensure long term savings, along with making our state a safer place.

However, unlike baseball, 1 for 2 is not a good batting average. The legislature should make passing HB 135 a priority this fall.

On Monday, Pennsylvania passed landmark legislation to replace decades of ineffective and expensive corrections policies with reforms that make our communities safer and save taxpayers money.  

Commonwealth Foundation thanks House and Senate members for their unanimous bipartisan support for real corrections reform via Senate Bill 100.

While Senate Bill 100 heads to the governor's desk, a separate component, House Bill 135, needs to accompany it. As Brad Bumsted of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports: 

House Bill 135, pending in the Senate Appropriations Committee, would authorize the state to send some of the savings to counties. Together, the Senate and House bills make up the so-called Justice Reinvestment Initiative, backed by a coalition of conservatives and liberals.

If both bills are passed together, the net savings is projected to reach $253 million within five years.  States such as New York and Texas have embraced similar policy changes, significantly reducing both their crime and imprisonment rates over the past decade.  These states demonstrate that corrections reform can improve public safety while saving tax dollars.

While SB 100 was a critical arrow to fire at corrections reforms, HB 135 is the arrowhead that will ensure Pennsylvania hits the target of improving public safety while saving tax dollars.

The Justice Reinvestment Initiative, commissioned by Gov. Tom Corbett and led by national corrections reform experts, generated broad bipartisan support for a reform package that will:

• Make the corrections system more efficient by improving the parole process and keeping low-risk cases out of prison in favor of less expensive and more effective sentencing;
• Save taxpayer dollars;
• And improve public safety by reducing reoffending rates and reinvesting a portion of the savings back into the correctional system to bolster county corrections, law enforcement, and parole supervision.

However, these reforms need to happen as a package to be effective. 

The reform package was split into two separate pieces of legislation. 

Senate Bill 100 initiates smarter sentencing and parole practices that will save the commonwealth more than $1 million in fiscal year 2012-13, with substantial savings in subsequent years.  

• Within five years, the net saving is projected to reach $253 million.
• SB 100 is scheduled for a concurrence vote in the Senate this week.

House Bill 135 will be the vehicle (firewall) for reinvesting a portion of the savings achieved in SB 100 back into effective corrections-related programs and to counties to help reduce Pennsylvania's prison population. Failing to pass both pieces limits effectiveness and delays significant savings.

• HB 135 would provide counties necessary funding to keep nonviolent offenders with short minimum sentences in local jails instead of state prisons. This is both more effective and cost efficient, leading to substantial savings.
• HB 135 will allow funds for evidence-based probation supervision practices, such as programs modeled after Hawaii's Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE). This innovative probation program provides swift, predictable sanctions on probation violators. It reduced positive drug tests in Hawaii by more than 70 percent and cut new arrests in half. Without the funding under HB 135, few counties are likely to utilize HOPE courts.
• HB 135 is in the Senate Appropriations committee.

To achieve meaningful corrections reform, both pieces of legislation should be sent to Gov. Tom Corbett's desk by June 30.

For more information on these proven reforms, visit www.commonwealthfoundation.org/justice

What is it they say about things that are out of sight?  Oh, yes, out of mind.  That might be one of the reasons why our corrections system has become one of our Four Alarms, with skyrocketing costs in both taxpayer dollars and human capital.  But the good news, as highlighted in this Philadelphia Inquirer story on Gov. George Leader, is that real corrections reform could be just around the corner.

Last week, Michael Geer of the Pennsylvania Family Council and I wrote to our state Representatives to encourage them to support the bi-partisan efforts to give us a more efficient and more effective corrections system.  The message is that you can be smart on crime and not sacrifice safety.  Indeed, no one is suggesting that we not punish people who have committed a crime.  And there are some real bad people who should never get out of jail.  But we are saying that there are proven ways to provide both punishment AND correction in less costly and better ways.

Here's our letter urging support for this critical and path-breaking legislation under consideration this week in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives:

Dear Representative:

It is our pleasure to write you on behalf of the Commonwealth Foundation and Pennsylvania Family Council to encourage you to support Senate Bill 100 (printer number 2258) as amended by the House Judiciary Committee last week.

Pennsylvania's growing and expensive corrections system can do better for communities, taxpayers and offenders. SB 100 helps do this by replacing Pennsylvania's ineffective corrections policies with those that lower crime rates, reduce recidivism, and control spending.

SB 100 embraces the following three evidence-based principles:

• Keep Low-Risk Cases Out of Prisons. Research indicates that while imprisonment keeps offenders from committing crimes in the outside community, it does not deter crimes after release, and may even make low-risk offenders more likely to commit future crimes.
• Reduce Recidivism. Inmates must be rehabilitated by addressing behavioral and substance abuse issues. Nearly 45 percent of Pennsylvania offenders return to prison after three years. A significant factor is technical parole or probation violations such as breaking curfew, not new crimes.
• Fund Results, Not Just Punishments. Criminal justice reforms should protect citizens, lower crime rates, and control spending.

Reforming our state corrections system is not being soft on crime - it's being smart on crime.  Over the past 30 years, Pennsylvania's incarceration rate exploded by more than 500 percent to more than 50,000 inmates.  As a result, taxpayers spend 17 times as much on the Department of Corrections today as they did in 1980.  At a cost of $35,000 per inmate per year, it is not a stretch to say taxpayers have been ill served by a system that locks up more people for longer periods, but fails to deter future crimes.

The good news is that we can spend less and get better results through real corrections reform, right now.  Please support Senate Bill 100 in its current form.

Sincerely,

Matthew J. Brouillette, President & CEO

Commonwealth Foundation

Michael Geer, President

Pennsylvania Family Institute
Pennsylvania Family Council

A Look at Senate Bill 100

SB 100 incorporates evidence-based reforms to make the state's corrections system more efficient by keeping low-risk cases out of prison in favor of less expensive and more effective sentencing. These reforms will save taxpayer dollars and improve the safety of communities by reducing reoffending rates.

SB 100 is the first in a two part package that incorporates the policy recommendations of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative. A separate piece of legislation will allocate a portion of the savings and reinvest it in the correctional system. Here is a summary of SB 100:

Sentencing Changes

• Risk Assessments Guidelines. Establishes up-front risk assessments in state sentencing.
  • This will identify high-risk cases that require state prison and lower-risk cases that may be better managed in less expensive alternative programs before judges and district attorneys determine an individual's sentence.

• Keep Low-Risk Cases Out of Prison. Prevents low-level misdemeanors from being sentenced to state prison.
  • Research demonstrates that imprisonment in state prisons does not make offenders less likely to commit crimes after release, and may make them more likely to do so.
  • Those who commit low-level misdemeanors will remain in local jails, keeping their support systems such as families, close by.

• Alternative Program Eligibility. As an alternative to traditional prison, offenders may be sentenced to one of the state's alternative sentencing programs, designed for nonviolent criminals, often dealing with substance abuse. SB 100 makes the following changes:
  • Eligible offenders could be sentenced to a state-level alternative program even if certain mandatory minimum sentences apply. Currently, minimum sentences disqualify many otherwise eligible offenders.
  • The maximum age for an inmate sentenced to Quehanna Motivational Boot Camp would be raised from 35 to 40.
  • Makes additional offenders ineligible for alternative sentencing programs.  Those that would no longer be eligible include offenders registered under Megan's Law.

• County "HOPE" Courts. Allows counties to establish an innovative probation program that provides swift, predictable sanctions on probation violators.
  • Modeled after Hawaii's Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE) program, this program incentivizes probationers to stay drug and alcohol free.
  • Thanks to HOPE, positive drug tests in Hawaii have dropped more than 70 percent and new arrests cut in half, saving an estimated $4,000 to $8,000 per offender.

• Deportation of nonviolent immigrants in state prisons. Allows nonviolent illegal immigrants be deported before serving their minimum sentence.

Parole Changes

• Redirecting Technical Parole Violators. Sends technical parole violators to community corrections center, a transition between prison and returning to the community, instead of expensive prisons.
  • Technical violations include failing a drug test or missing an appointment with a parole officer, not violent acts or new crimes.
  • Parole violators would remain nearer to their families, work and community, making for easier transition into life outside the corrections system.
    

• Parole Time Credits. Allows the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole to grant convicted parole violators a credit for previous time spent on parole before reinstitution. 

• Improve Parole Hearings.  Utilizes more efficient communication technology to increase  parole hearing capacity.
  • System inefficiencies and lack of capacity for parole hearings have resulted in 1,900 inmates locked up in prison when they would otherwise qualify for parole.

Programmatic changes

• Eliminate Pre-Release. Repeals the pre-release program in its entirety. Currently, the prerelease program allows eligible low-risk offenders to transition from prison to the community corrections system before they serve their minimum sentence. 

• Safe Community Reentry Program. Creates the Safe Community Reentry Program to bolster the corrections systems through partnerships with non-profit or for-profit entities that can aid an offender's successful reentry back into communities.

SB 100 passed the House Judiciary Committee unanimously on Tuesday. A House vote is expected early next week. 

Policymakers moved one step closer to replacing Pennsylvania's ineffective corrections policies with those that lower crime rates, reduce re-offending, and control spending.

During today's House Judiciary committee, Rep. Glen Grell offered the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) recommendations as an amendment to Senate Bill 100. Both passed the committee unanimously.

The JRI recommendations, backed by Gov. Tom Corbett, emerged after a workgroup thoroughly researched the state's criminal justice system and studied the reforms of other states. Adding these data-driven solutions to SB 100, will make the state's correctional system more effective, communities safer, and save taxpayer dollars.

Commonwealth Foundation thanks House Judiciary Committee members for their leadership and bipartisan support for real corrections reform.

Correcting the commonwealth's criminal justice system is urgent. This is why Gov. Tom Corbett made it clear that he wants to see reform legislation on his desk by June 30. We couldn't agree more with the Governor.

The ailing corrections system can do better for communities, taxpayers and offenders. Here's a look at how it misses the mark:

• Communities: Nearly 45 percent of Pennsylvania parolees released into communities return to prison within three years, making for a "corrections" system that simply isn't correcting.
• Taxpayers: The breakdown in our corrections system caused the prison population to skyrocket, demanding more state prisons, staff and tax dollars. This unsustainable growth in corrections spending is part of the four-alarm fire that threatens Pennsylvania's fiscal house.
• Offenders: Kyle was kept incarcerated, after being granted parole, an extra 100 days because he couldn't pay a $13.70 fine. This prevented him from rejoining his 4-year old daughter and the workforce, plus housing Kyle this extra time cost taxpayers more than 100 times the amount of the fine.

State corrections spending is unsustainable and fails to deliver acceptable results. Corrections Sec. John Wetzel is leading the charge for meaningful reform by not seeking an increased budget for the first time in a decade. Flat funding is possible only because the Department's budget includes $2.8 million in savings expected from legislative changes.

The Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) workgroup has thoroughly researched the state's criminal justice system, vetted and proposed Pennsylvania-specific data-driven solutions. You can find a summary of the recommendations here.

The JRI recommendations could be introduced in a new bill introduced or amended into SB 100, which addresses some of the same issues and currently sits in the House Judicial Committee. With few session days left before the budget deadline, legislators must act quickly to meet Gov. Corbett's important deadline.

Passing the JRI reforms along with SB 100 means you would benefit by living in safer communities, where more offenders are rehabilitated to become productive members of society. Corrections reform also means less of your hard-earned income would be taken away in taxes, and the dollars you already contribute to the corrections system could have more impact. 

States such as New York and Texas have embraced similar policy changes, significantly reducing both their crime and imprisonment rates over the past decade.  These states and others demonstrate that corrections reform can improve public safety while saving tax dollars.