CRIMINAL JUSTICE Prison Break States have found ways to reserve prison space for the most serious offenders without jeopardizing public safety. BY ALISON decade ago, rising prison popu- carrying out the changes, and oversight and lations and costs seemed to be an measurement to ensure the desired results are LAWRENCE irreversible trend. Since 2007, how- being achieved. A ever, large-scale, data-driven cor- The results are telling. Half the states have rections and sentencing reforms in a growing reduced their prison population since 2009. number of states are demonstrating success. Most recently, five states—Alabama, Idaho, These bipartisan efforts have prioritized Mississippi, Nebraska and Utah—adopted prison space for serious and repeat offenders, reforms in 2014 and 2015 that collectively have improved community supervision for other projected savings or avoided costs of more offenders, and re-invested the savings in ser- than $1.7 billion over the next two decades. vices that are effective at reducing recidivism This impressive work in states is being emu- and victimization. lated at the federal level. Proposed bills in Con- Legislatures have reduced penalties for low- gress would focus federal corrections resources er-level drug offenders and increased the avail- on the most serious offenders. “There’s no ability of mental health and substance abuse shortage of admiration for state efforts on the treatment. They have also focused on provid- Hill,” says Lindsey Carlson of The Pew Chari- ing services and building the skills of inmates table Trusts public safety performance project. Alison Lawrence handles sentencing and to help them succeed after release. “Clearly states have led the way and prompted corrections issues as a program principal for At least 25 states have used what is com- interest in Congress to follow suit.” NCSL’s Criminal Justice Program. Donna monly called justice reinvestment to develop In September 2015, NCSL and Pew brought Lyons, group director of the program, and adopt reforms. This process involves an together legislators who have championed contributed to this article. J.J. Gentry, an analysis of the data on what drives prison pop- state efforts to discuss strategies for successful attorney for the South Carolina Senate Judiciary Committee, moderated the ulations and costs, enactment of policies that and sustainable reform. Here’s what they had discussion. address those factors, investments that support to say. FEBRUARY 2016 22 STATE LEGISLATURES CRIMINAL JUSTICE The Participants STATE LEGISLATURES: What was the impetus for sentencing and CALIFORNIA Senator Loni Hancock chairs the public safety policy and budget corrections reform in your state? committees. She has responsibilities for overseeing implementation of South Carolina Senator Gerald Malloy (D): California Realignment. The prison population had increased nearly In 2009, the Legislature created state-local performance-based funding to address probation violations. In three years, the probation threefold over 25 years, with continued failure rate has declined by 33 percent, resulting in $537 million in growth projected. Cost was an issue. In savings. In 2011, in response to a court order, supervision responsibility 2009 we decided to develop a strategy that for low-level felony offenders was realigned from the state to counties. The state prison population has declined by more than 36,000 inmates. would yield a high-performing system. Former Georgia Representative Jay Neal (R): GEORGIA Instead of spending $264 million to build Former Representative Jay Neal served in the Georgia General Assembly from 2005-2013 and was primary sponsor of a 2012 reform two new prisons, in 2011 we looked at bill. He now works for the state’s criminal justice coordinating council. developing a framework to protect public The General Assembly has enacted reforms each year since 2012. safety, make proper use of tax payer dol- These laws have created graduated penalties for burglary and forgery, raised felony theft thresholds, revised penalties for drug possession, lars, and do so mindful of the moral imper- relaxed some mandatory sentences and expanded use of electronic ative we have to help individuals be law monitoring. The state also required evidence-based corrections practices abiding and productive members of society. and established procedures for risk and needs assessment. California Senator Loni Hancock (D): Our KENTUCKY reform has been mainly court driven. Even Representative John Tilley chairs Kentucky’s judiciary committee and is with significant increases in prison space a member of the justice and judiciary budget subcommittee. He was the primary sponsor of the 2011 reforms. Tilley also co-chairs NCSL’s Law, since the late 1980s, facilities had become Criminal Justice and Public Safety committee. so overcrowded that the U.S. Supreme A 2011 law addressed many aspects of drug-crime sentencing and Court told us in 2011 that we had to reduce treatment, risk and needs assessments in community corrections, graduated sanctions for probation and parole violations, and evidence- our population by at least 30,000. It was based practices for community supervision. The state has saved nearly clear that the public did not want to keep $37 million from a mandatory reentry supervision policy. building prisons, and that it wasn’t making MISSISSIPPI us safer. Senator W. Briggs Hopson III chairs a judiciary committee and sits on Oregon Senator Floyd Prozanski (D): A cit- Mississippi’s appropriations committee. He is also a co-chair of NCSL’s izen initiative in the mid-‘90s that estab- Law, Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee. The Legislature passed a law in 2014 that expanded eligibility for lished mandatory minimums contributed incarceration alternatives, increased felony theft thresholds, modified to extensive prison growth. In 2012 we were drug penalties, clarified time-served requirements, and improved reentry building one prison and a second was on and community supervision. The law is expected to avert more than $250 million in spending over 10 years. the design board. Meanwhile, the state’s commitment to evidence-based practices NEBRASKA helped set the stage for justice reinvestment. Senator Les Seiler chairs Nebraska’s judiciary committee and an oversight committee for the 2015 reforms. Mississippi Senator Briggs Hopson (R): By A 2015 law expanded the use of probation in lieu of incarceration, 2013, prison crowding and costs were out ensured more offenders will be supervised upon release and bolstered of control, while we were faced with build- parole supervision practices. A special legislative committee was created to oversee implementation. ing more prisons. Also, there were concerns about inconsistencies in sentencing and use OREGON of probation, especially with drug offend- Senator Floyd Prozanski chairs Oregon’s judiciary committee. He also co-chairs two committees with oversight responsibilities for the 2013 ers. reforms. Kentucky Representative John Tilley (D): In In 2013 the Legislative Assembly removed enhanced penalties for 2009, we had a 45 percent prison growth marijuana possession, added in discretion for sentencing certain repeat drug offenders, reduced prison sentences for some property offenders and rate while the rest of the country was at instituted best practices for specialty courts. As of June 2015, projected 13 percent. And we were seeing very little prison population growth has been eliminated and the state has avoided return on that investment. the planned opening of one prison and the construction of a second. Nebraska Senator Les Seiler (NP): Last year, SOUTH CAROLINA the state’s prisons were 165 percent over Senator Gerald Malloy is chair of a reform oversight committee and capacity and building a new prison would member of the judiciary committee. He was the primary sponsor of South Carolina’s 2010 omnibus reform bill. only reduce it to 125 percent. Plus, we A 2010 law restructured criminal offenses and penalties and know that one third or more of offenders addressed diversion, treatment, good time and community supervision. come back into the system and 31 percent The state has experienced a 6.3 percent decrease in the violent crime rate and a 17.9 percent drop in crime recidivism. of the prisoners have mental illness. STATE LEGISLATURES 23 FEBRUARY 2016 CRIMINAL JUSTICE “It’s about allowing people who can and will accept rehabilitation to become good, taxpaying citizens.” MISSISSIPPI SENATOR BRIGGS HOPSON misdemeanors, with money saved allocated to education and rehabilitation. Prozanski: Oregon put $40 million into a performance grant for counties to demon- strate that state savings can be redirected to the local level. It was one of the largest investments being made to our counties at that time. Hopson: Rather than money up front, the general premise in Mississippi’s reforms HOPSON was to offset incarceration costs by having nonviolent offenders serve time under inten- Why do you think the reforms Hancock: California also offers an incen- sive community supervision rather than in have been enacted by such large tive to counties that successfully super- prison. They can work, pay taxes and take margins? vise some offenders. We split the savings care of their own living expenses while still Tilley: In Kentucky, a seven-member task achieved when somebody isn’t sent to state being held accountable for their crimes. force traveled the state in an intentional prison 50-50 with the county. The coun- campaign that