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State Representative Michael Paymar
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4199
For more information contact: Joan Nichols 651-29X-XXXX
Column/LTE
We Also Have To Be Smart About Confronting Crime
Columnist Ruben Rosario recently wrote a poignant commentary about our swelling prison population and the costs associated with locking people up at an exorbitantly higher rate than any other developed nation. While Minnesota incarcerates offenders at lower rates than most states, the number of inmates housed in Minnesota prisons has increased from 4,605 in 1995 to 9,214 today. This increase means that in 2008, Minnesota taxpayers will pay $335 million alone in direct costs for State prisons, not to mention the costs for county jails.
Mr. Rosario is spot on when he states that politicians want to make sure they look tough on crime by continuing to vote to increase prison sentences. However, across the country and here in Minnesota the public and policymakers are rethinking sentencing and rehabilitation. This was especially true during this past legislative session. While the "lock 'em up and throw away the key" sentiment still exists, we have to be honest in this debate--95percent of all incarcerated offenders will be released back into society and we have a huge financial and moral incentive to improve the odds that they will be law-abiding citizens when they get out.
The major reason for our increased prison population is longer lengths of imprisonment, primarily for drug offenses and technical parole violations. However, Mr. Rosario should know that there are some of us (Democrats and Republicans alike) who recognize the futility of the status quo and who want to be tough, yet smart, in confronting crime.
Being smart means intervening with at-risk individuals and families to prevent crime in the first place. It means putting more cops on the street and providing them with the resources to do their job more effectively. It means recognizing that over half of the inmates in our prison institutions have serious substance abuse and mental health problems. Most don't receive treatment while incarcerated or when they leave prison and this must change. It means working to ensure that when someone leaves prison they remain law abiding.
People often say that politicians ought to treat taxpayer money as though it were their own – invest well and waste none. I agree. Unfortunately, our current criminal justice system does the opposite. According to national data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, within three years of release 51 percent are returned to prison for either committing a new offense or a technical violation. Many offenders have limited education and job training and we don't offer enough of either to them in prison. State statutes provide a laundry list of jobs ex-offenders aren't allowed to do and most have limited housing options available. Jeremy Travis, author of But They All Come Back, coined the phrase "invisible punishment" for the barriers we place on offenders who leave prison. If these collateral sanctions placed on offenders are contributing to the high rate of recidivism, for the safety of the public, shouldn't we be concerned?
Last session, the Public Safety Finance Committee in the Minnesota House of Representatives started to address these issues in a bipartisan manner. Research informs us that an offender is more likely to commit a new crime within a year of release if he faces many barriers to successfully reintegrate into society. , So, we invested in a comprehensive project called the Network to help individuals become employed, taxpaying citizens upon their release from prison. The Network will assist high-risk ex-offenders establish stable housing, employment, pay child support, participate in treatment, and remain law abiding. The Network will receive funding only if the ex-offenders do all of the above to ensure that the Network is accountable for reducing recidivism.
We also established a bipartisan working group consisting of members of the legislature, Department of Corrections, public defenders, prosecutors, probation officers, the courts, and the nonprofit community. Various proposals, such as providing State tax credits for employers who hire ex-offenders, establishing offender reentry courts, limiting additional prison time for technical violations, early release for non-violent offenders who complete treatment, educational and job training programs in prison, and revisiting our drug sentences, were discussed at length. This discussion is ongoing and legislation is being drafted.
We invested in youth intervention programs, to prevent at-risk kids from becoming adult inmates. Recent research from the University of Minnesota and Wilder Foundation found that the state could expect a return of $4.89 for every dollar invested in youth intervention programs. For instance, we funded All Children Excel (ACE) in Ramsey County that targets at-risk young people early and holds them and their families accountable through comprehensive interventions by law enforcements, schools, community organization, etc. We restored funding for crime victim programs, established more courts and funded additional judges to reduce court backlogs, and we added scientists at the BCA to solve crimes faster.
And to the cogent point Mr. Rosario made in his article about longer prison sentences, we asked the Sentencing Guidelines Commission to re-rank the sentencing grid for drug offenders. Currently, Minnesota incarcerates drug offenders for much longer sentences than our neighboring states, costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Unfortunately, while a proposal was put forward to put Minnesota more in line with our neighbors, the Commission rejected it. While disappointed, I remain hopeful in the next session that we can find a solution that is workable--longer drug sentences for kingpins and recognition that other drug offenders are best suited for treatment and less costly alternatives than prison.
Minnesota has had its share of heinous crimes and those responsible should be incarcerated and some should never be released. But if we don't get smart about sentencing and rehabilitation our children will be shouldering a tremendous economic burden, building new prisons and spending more and more on incarceration.
There is also the human cost to our current policy. In addition to the enormous cost to crime victims, families of offenders are being destroyed by our refusal to consider that many offenders can be rehabilitated if we provide them with the right resources. The status quo might be politically expedient, but is fiscally irresponsible and morally wrong.
Rep. Michael Paymar
Chair, Public Safety Finance Committee
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