Prison Alternatives Are Needed (Editorial)

Gov. Mike Huckabee has long argued — and we agree with him — that the state needs alternatives to the practice of placing nonviolent criminals in prison.

The governor brought out his plans again in July when he spoke to prison officials gathered at the Southern State Correctional Association meeting at Hot Springs.

There he emphasized the need for alternatives to help stem the rise in prison costs.

It costs $42.59 a day to house someone in prison but just $1.85 a day to keep a person in a community correction program, the governor said. That’s more than $15,500 per year to keep a person in prison versus $675 to try to get help for prisoners who are not dangerous while they pay their debt to society.

Building more jails and prisons is not the answer. There are already some 13,000 inmates in the state prison units and another 1,400 inmates are in county jails awaiting transfer to prison as space opens up. The state must come up more than $200 million a year to keep the prisons going, and more prisons would only cost more dollars.

A large number of the current inmates do not need to be in prison. Those convicted of violent crimes certainly must remain incarcerated. But for those who pose no danger, it makes sense to us that both they and the state could be better served with some creative alternative sentencing.

A large part of what brought about the big increase in inmates was the laws passed for mandatory sentencing and longer prison terms — the three-strikes-and-you’re-out brand of justice that sounded so good when politicians were running for office.

The governor is on the right track with greater use of alternative sentencing, boosting outpatient substance abuse programs and expanding community punishment centers and day-reporting centers.

Programs that allow the low-risk offenders to remain with their families while making restitution and doing community service are much more likely to help someone get back on their feet than time spent in prison. And they’re far less costly.

The plain truth is that continuing to put every criminal in prison is not working. Half of Arkansas’ inmates end up back in prison after their release.

Taxpayers should take a careful look at continuing to pump millions more every year into prisons when alternative programs could help the nonviolent offenders become productive, tax-paying citizens.

It makes sense to us.