In August 2010, a bipartisan group of leaders from all three branches of government announced a partnership with the Pew Center on the States Public Safety Performance Project to develop strategies for reducing recidivism while holding offenders accountable and controlling corrections spending.  The project seeks to give the state a better return on its public safety investment through data analysis.

Those announcing the effort included: Governor Steve Beshear, Senate President David L. Williams, House Speaker Greg Stumbo, Chief Justice John Minton, Senate Judiciary Chairman Tom Jensen, and House Judiciary Chairman John Tilley.

The Kentucky General Assembly signaled the state’s commitment to work towards this goal when lawmakers created the Task Force on the Penal Code and Controlled Substances Act in early 2010. The task force, created at the urging of legislative Judiciary Committee chairs, includes members from all branches of state government.

Kentucky's prison system has seen some of the nation’s fastest growth since 2000, growing 45 percent since then, compared to 13 percent for the U.S. state prison system overall.^[i] Since 1980, the state’s prison population has grown 442% from 3,723 inmates to about 20,200 inmates in 2010.^[ii] To pay for this increase, total state spending on corrections in 2009 reached $513 million, up from $117 million in 1989.^[iii]

Senate President David Williams, a Republican from Burkesville in southern Kentucky, said, “[a]s national chairman of the Council of State Governments, I have collaborated closely with the Pew Center on the States as they have worked in several states to develop thoughtful sentencing and corrections policies that maintain the security of citizens and ensure the effective use of tax dollars. I appreciate their involvement in Kentucky and look forward to implementing their policy suggestions.”^[iv]

^[i] “Kentucky to Partner with the Pew Center on the States to Improve Public Safety, Contain Costs,” Pew Center on the States Public Safety Performance Project, 11 Aug. 2010, http://www.pewtrusts.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=60365.
^[ii] Ibid.
^[iii] Ibid.
^[iv] Ibid.

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  Posted in Juvenile Justice, Kentucky, Priority Issues, ROC Blog, State Initiatives: February 20, 2012 by Jeanette Moll

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