Former Drug Czar says that America's WOD is wasteful and damaging to society

[Prophet Saddam]

What a load of crap that this guy is just now making this argument, as if he couldn't see it while serving as drug czar.

Drug courts touted for savings
By Heather Ratcliffe
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Saturday, May. 31 2008

ST. LOUIS — American taxpayers would save more than $46 billion if drug addicts
now in prison were instead treated, according to a study released Friday at a
national convention of drug court professionals.

Retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, a former U.S. drug czar, and actress Melanie
Griffith joined experts in calling on lawmakers to increase funding for such
courts.

"This is not a war on drugs," McCaffrey said. "This is a problem for our
families in America. In order to turn drugs around in this country, we're going
to have to treat those 1.5 million people who are addicted."

Griffith, a recovering alcohol and drug addict, said she believes drug courts
are effective because they provide both support and accountability for abusers.

"I had a long struggle with addiction because I didn't have that. And by the
grace of God, I didn't end up in prison," Griffith said. "There are so many
people, who with this kind of help, can lead beautiful lives."

The study from the Urban Institute in Washington found that about 3 percent of
arrested addicts are referred to a drug court, which offers supervised
treatment to nonviolent offenders whose records are expunged if they complete
the program.

"Most addicts need something more than being warehoused," said Judge Charles
Simmons Jr., a drug court judge in Greenville, S.C. "Drug courts are putting
families back together, and they are decreasing crime at a tremendous savings
to taxpayers."

Housing an inmate in prison can cost up to $40,000 a year while drug court
treatment costs up to $3,500 per offender a year, Simmons said.

McCaffrey said 15 years of research has yielded definitive proof that drug
courts significantly reduce crime by as much as 35 percent. He said legislators
and the public may get behind the system once they understand its cost savings.

"The math in unarguable," McCaffrey said. "If you want to unclog America's
prisons, drug courts need to be taken to scale."

Many prosecutors, judges, social workers, health providers and attorneys who
participate in the 2,100 drug courts nationwide attended the three-day
conference at America's Center that ended Friday.

Missouri has 110 drug court programs serving more than 3,400 participants.
Since their inception, more than 6,200 people have graduated from a drug court
in Missouri with a 10 percent recidivism rate.

Illinois has 19 drug courts in operation, including one in Madison County, with
more in the developmental stages.

hratcliffe@post-dispatch.com | 314-621-5804

Barry McCaffrey - A War Criminal?

[Kishar]

Housing an inmate in prison can cost up to $40,000 a year

I think that's bull because i've been to jail and they hardly feed you anything, it's cold which equals less money for heat, you get a cheap wool blanket and no pillow, a small pencil, some toothpaste, a little toothbrush about 2 inches long (so you cant make a shank) a stinky bar of ivory soap and a towel. Aint no way that adds up to 40 g's a year. UNLESS it's from keeping the god damn lights on 24/7. I hate jail.

edit: Maybe prison is different than the county, I heard you eat good there.

[Prophet Saddam]

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FEDERAL PRISONS
===============

Bureau of Justice Statistics Home page
Bureau of Justice Statistics

The National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) preserves and
distributes computerized crime and justice data from Federal agencies,
state agencies, and investigator initiated research projects to users
for secondary statistical analysis.

***** You can explore a huge variety of reports on state and federal corrections.

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DOJ: JMD: BS: Budget Trend Data, Table of Contents
Budget Trend Data 1975 Through the President's 2003 Request to the Congress
Budget Staff, Justice Management Division, Spring 2002

***** See especially reports and tables for the Federal Prison System:

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DOJ: JMD: BS: Budget Trend Data, Federal Prison System Operating Cost Per Inmate
Federal Prison System Operating Cost Per Inmate
Federal Prison System – Cost Per Inmate for Fiscal Years 1975 - 2003

FEDERAL PRISON SYSTEM- SALARIES AND EXPENSES 1975 - 2003

***** See tables for details.

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DOJ: JMD: BS: Budget Trend Data, Federal Prisoner Detention
FEDERAL PRISONER DETENTION 1975 - 2003

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sumeria.net
The Costs of Prohibition -- The Prison State

On average, it costs $20,000 per year to maintain one prisoner,
$100,000 to build a single prison cell, and $20,000 per year to staff
a prison cell.

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Prison Deaths
Prison Statistics, 1990 - 2000
Certain Information from the Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin

It costs $100,000 to build a new prison cell. It costs $200,000 over
25 years to pay interest on the construction debt; and in excess of
$22,000 per year/per cell to operate.

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Judge Myron Bright tells it right
A concurring but separate opinion in US v Roberto Gallardo Chavez, US
Court of Appeals (8th Cir, No. 00-1404, filed October 20, 2000)

** In Fiscal 1994 it cost an average of $58.50 per day to house an
inmate in a federal institution. The average annual amount was
$21,352. The cost varies depending upon the security level of the
institution in which an inmate is confined, as well as the geographic
location of the facility. The figure, $58.50, is the system-wide
average [daily] cost. In Fiscal 1995 we estimate the average cost per
day per inmate will be $60.26, with an average annual amount of
$21,995. (Letter from Kathleen M Hawk, Director, United States
Department of Justice, and Federal Bureau of Prisons to the Honorable
Myron H Bright (July 6, 1995), on file with Judge Bright.)
Undoubtedly, these costs have increased over the past six years and
may well continue to increase in the future.

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National Institute of Corrections (NIC)
National Institute of Corrections

***** This is an excellent portal site. Be sure to check out the
search capability to continue your explorations.

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BOP: Federal Bureau of Prisons Web Site
US Department of Justice – Federal Bureau of Prisons
National Institute of Corrections

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AFSCME - Page Not Found
Private Prisons Do Not Save Money

The United States General Accounting Office (GAO), a nonpartisan
congressional agency, spent a full year examining comprehensive
studies of private and public operational costs of several state
prisons. The GAO detected "little difference," "mixed results," and
ultimately "could not conclude whether privatization saved money."2

[Prophet Saddam]

=============
STATE PRISONS
=============

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/spe01.pdf
State Prison Expenditures -- 2001

***** This is a nine page report. Table 2 provides total, operating
and capital expenditures and operating costs per State inmate and per
US resident, fiscal year 2001.

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http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/prison.htm
National Institute of Corrections

In the following table, what I've tried to do rather than producing
just another alphabetical list is create a way to do research on what
corrections departments are doing right or wrong, as well as allow the
viewer to visit their websites. The rankings are based primarily on
ACA 2003 cost figures with higher ranked states representing the
lowest costs per inmate. The content available column may or may not
lead to a part of that state's website, and if other known content is
available about that state, I try to provide a link to it. All
numbers are approximate, as inmate population counts change daily, but
generally fluctuate no more than 20% up or down every year.

http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/prison.htm
States that Don't Report Their Annual Inmate Costs:
California, Vermont

***** This site also offers an excellent collection of links for
researching prisons.

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business of prison
Viper Records | Viper Activism | Prison Business
Incarceration May Not Work, but it Sure Can Be Profitable

They call it "selling the walls." Corporations such as CCA assemble
pre-fabricated modular units, minimizing construction costs. Small
"pods" of cells surround a control booth, enabling one guard to do the
work that five traditionally did. (Payroll is 75 percent of a typical
prison's operating costs.) Like a hotel -- charging the client state,
say, $50 per day per inmate -- the private prison sub-contracts all
services from food to medical care, then takes its cut. Telephone
companies such as AT&T and MCI, for example, compete for prisoners,
who make $1 billion worth of calls every year. In 1997, New York made
$21.2 million from prison telephone call commissions.



==================
CALIFORNIA PRISONS
==================

http://www.cdc.state.ca.us/Communica...ts_figures.asp
California Department Of Corrections
Facts And Figures -- Second Quarter 2004

Budget: $5.7 billion (2003-2004 Budget Act)
Avg. yearly cost: per inmate, $30,929; per parolee, $3,364
Staff: 49,276 currently employed including 42,628 in Institutions,
3,137 in Parole, and 3,511 in Administration (about 33,289 sworn peace
officers)
Total offenders under CDC jurisdiction: 300,085. One year change: -1,552 -0.5%

***** This page provides lots of additional statistics about California prisons.

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http://www.californiahealthline.org/...&itemID=103270
Lawmakers Seek To Reduce Costs of State Prison Health Care System
June 2, 2004

Average health care costs per inmate currently exceed $5,500 annually,
compared with less than $4,000 three years ago.

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http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache...lifornia&hl=en
Feb. 12, 2004 -- Prison hiring defied budget
1,000 GUARDS ADDED TO PAYROLL

SACRAMENTO - During the past three years, California's troubled prison
system hired 1,000 guards at a cost of up to $100 million and without
permission from the Legislature, state finance officials revealed
Wednesday.

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http://www.igs.berkeley.edu/publicat...02/indians.htm
Indians, Teachers, and Prison Guards Spent Their Way to Power in Sacramento

The California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA),
meanwhile, was fashioning a political powerhouse of its own, again
symbolized by a building, a fancy new headquarters in West Sacramento.
From 20,000 inmates in 1980, the state prison system expanded rapidly
to 160,000 in 2000, while Department of Corrections spending ballooned
from $400 million to $4 billion and its payroll from about 9,000 to
45,000 workers—virtually all of them potential CCPOA members.

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SACRAMENTO / Dems oppose prison guards' pay increase / 17 senators want contract renegotiated
May 19, 2004, SACRAMENTO
Dems oppose prison guards' pay increase 17 senators want contract renegotiated

The contract awarded guards a nearly 7 percent raise in July that
pushed the annual take-home pay of a guard to an average of $64,000,
according to figures compiled by the state controller.

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http://www.prisonsandjails.com/stori...4/03010412.htm
Overtime high for prison directors
ANALYSIS: WITH BASE PAY 286 MADE $100,000 IN '03

Last week, the Mercury News reported that 391 officers earned more
than $100,000 in 2003. The average overtime for these officers, mostly
guards, was $44,700.

The department is currently spending about $5.7 billion a year to
house, clothe, feed and watch 161,000 inmates. It is the nation's
largest prison system, rapidly expanding in the 1980s and 1990s as the
public wanted to crack down on crime. Overall overtime costs last year
fell to $178 million from $204 million in 2002, according to the
department.

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http://www.acssonline.org/news/20011...son_guards.asp
Prison guards, state strike deal on 5-year pact
Dec. 17, 2001

http://www.acssonline.org/news/20011...son_guards.asp
While the overall value of the contract between the state and
correctional officers could not be determined, the state assumes the
28,000 workers covered by the deal earn an average of $50,000 a year.
If pay hikes in the later years amount to 20% to 30%, the contract
could be worth between $280 million and $420 million, spread over five
years. At the end of the contract, officers' pay could average $60,000
to $65,00.

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The Reality-Based Community: Prison headcounts: a tale of two states
April 27, 2004
Prison headcounts: a tale of two states

California has just declared a prison crowding emergency and has begun
triple-bunking prisoners. A friend just back from New York reports
that, with crime rates falling, New York State has begun shutting down
vacant prisons, and wants to know why California is so different?

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http://www.caltax.org/member/digest/apr2002/4.2002.Kindrick-Spending$16MillionTo Save$5Million.06.htm
April 2002 -- Spending $16 Million to Save $5 Million: Closing
California’s Five Privately Owned Prisons is Nonsense

The governor’s proposed 2002-03 state budget will close five private
community correctional facilities (CCFs) as of June 30t unless the
Legislature takes action. This so-called cost-saving decision will
actually increase the cost to taxpayers, lose badly needed jobs, and
terminate key drug rehabilitation and education programs that reduce
recidivism.

http://www.sen.ca.gov/ftp/SEN/COMMIT...me/prisons.htp
State Senate Select Committee on Government Oversight
Oversight of State Prisons

***** This site offers a variety of reports on the California corrections system.

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http://www.corr.ca.gov/
California Department of Corrections

***** See sections on Facilities and Reports & Statistics.

-------------------------------------------------


Redirect
California Board of Corrections
Serving California's County and City Jails, Probation Departments and
Juvenile Facilities



===============
VERMONT PRISONS
===============

State of Vermont--Job Specifications
COMMUNITY CORRECTIONAL OFFICER

***** See job description and pay rates.

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.doc.state.vt.us/hrd/Employment/pctfaq1.htm
Frequently Asked Questions About Becoming a Correctional Officer

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http://www.rutlandherald.com/04/Story/80395.html
Vt. legislators eye inmate treatment outside the state - Mar. 11, 2004

Illuzzi, who has been a critic of the conditions at many of Vermont's
correctional facilities, said he is concerned about the caliber of
treatment out of state and whether Vermont will face costs beyond the
negotiated $42.15 per inmate per day.

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http://www.rutlandherald.com/04/Story/84220.html
State auditor: Corrections mistakes costly - May. 26, 2004

Last year, an average of 1,848 inmates per day were housed in Vermont
prisons or in out-of-state facilities under contract to the state,
according to the Department of Corrections. Vermont's facilities can
house up to 1,636 inmates.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/04/Story/80445.html
Firm vows prisoners cared for outside Vt. - Mar. 11, 2004

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Report: 1 of Every 75 U.S. Men in Prison
May 27, 2004 -- Report: 1 of Every 75 U.S. Men in Prison

The inmate population in 10 states increased at least 5 percent. Some
of the smallest state prison systems saw the largest increase:
Vermont's grew by 12.2 percent, Minnesota was up 9.4 percent and Maine
9.1 percent.

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Honolulu Star-Bulletin Hawaii News
January 18, 2004 -- Inmate exports tax families
Hawaii joins 10 states in shipping off large numbers of prisoners for
lack of cell space

Vermont has just signed a contract to house up to 700 inmates in
private prisons in Kentucky and Tennessee.

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VERMONT DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY
State of Vermont -- Department of Public Safety

[badgoalie85]

Originally Posted by Kishar

I think that's bull because i've been to jail and they hardly feed you anything, it's cold which equals less money for heat, you get a cheap wool blanket and no pillow, a small pencil, some toothpaste, a little toothbrush about 2 inches long (so you cant make a shank) a stinky bar of ivory soap and a towel. Aint no way that adds up to 40 g's a year. UNLESS it's from keeping the god damn lights on 24/7. I hate jail.

edit: Maybe prison is different than the county, I heard you eat good there.

we, the taxpayers, have to pay the salaries for all the guards, public attorneys, and prison employees that are employed thanks to the prison industrial complex. that adds up to a lot. we also have to pay for medical treatment in case a prisoner gets sick or injured or goes mentally insane. that adds up to a lot too.