Between December 1999 and April 2007, the prison population in Pennsylvania increased 24 percent, far outpacing the growth of the commonwealth's adult resident population.[i] In 2007, one in 28 adults in Pennsylvania were in prison, on probation, or on parole, costing taxpayers more than $1.8 billion.[ii] The state's incarceration rate has increased 280% since 1982.[iii] Factors contributing to the increase in the state’s incarceration rates and costs include:

• an increasing percentage of offenders with "less severe offenses" being admitted to prison;

• high failure rates among people under community supervision;

• high re-incarceration rates that may be due in part to inmates not receiving effective programming;

• a steady stream of admissions of inmates who had previously served time in county jails without receiving appropriate programs treatment or reentry training.

A legislative package (Acts 81-84 of 2008) enacted in the Fall of 2008 was designed to reduce recidivism and diminish the need to build more prisons. It included four key provisions relevant to improving public safety and slowing the increase in prison costs:

• providing incentives to certain lower-risk inmates to complete programs that reduce recidivism,

• allowing the Board of Probation and Parole to focus supervision resources on offenders in their critical first year on parole when the risk of recidivism is greatest,

• providing more access to drug-treatment programs, and

• authorizing the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing to develop parole guidelines based on best practices and available research.

Despite these efforts, the state’s prison population has continued to grow. Largely for this reason, the 2009-10 Pennsylvania state budget included a $175.2 million increase in corrections spending.[iv] The state’s leading conservative think tank, The Commonwealth Foundation, has recommended that policymakers enhance the utilization of alternatives that have been proven to reduce recidivism among nonviolent offenders, such as drug courts, electronic monitoring, and intermediate sanctions imposed by probation and parole officers for rules violations.[v]

[i] Pennsylvania Public Safety Policy Solutions, Pew Center on the States Public Safety Performance Project, http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/initiatives_detail.aspx?initiativeID=56255.
[ii] “Prison Overcrowding Solutions,” Commonwealth Foundation ,16 Nov. 2009, http://www.commonwealthfoundation.org/research/detail/prison-overcrowding-solutions.
[iii] Ibid.
[iv] Ibid.
[v] “Pennsylvania Corrections Spending,” Commonwealth Foundation, 15 Oct. 2009, http://www.commonwealthfoundation.org/research/detail/pennsylvania-corrections-spending.

• The Commonwealth Foundation’s Plan to Improve Corrections in Pennsylvania

  Posted in Pennsylvania, Priority Issues, Prisons, ROC Blog, State Initiatives: March 13, 2012 by Timothy Cook

  Since 1980, the incarceration rate in Pennsylvania has increased by 500%, and the budget for the state’s Department of Corrections has increased by 1,700%.

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• Evidence-Based Corrections in Pennsylvania

  Posted in Pennsylvania, Priority Issues, Prisons, ROC Blog, State Initiatives: December 9, 2011 by Jeanette Moll

  The State of Pennsylvania’s Corrections Secretary John Wetzel has been at the job for less than a year, but he has already begun transforming Pennsylvania corrections.

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• Penn Law Review Symposium: “Sentencing Law: Rhetoric and Reality”

  Posted in Events, Pennsylvania: September 30, 2011 by Vikrant P. Reddy

  On October 28th and 29th, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, is hosting a symposium on the issues surrounding American sentencing law.  The two-day seminar will feature a number of prominent legal figures.  During the symposium, Right on Crime signatories Asa Hutchinson and John DiIulio will participate in a panel discussion entitled “The Politics of [...]

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• Pennsylvania’s Recidivism Crisis

  Posted in Parole and Re-Entry, Pennsylvania, Priority Issues, ROC Blog, State Initiatives: July 7, 2011 by Henry Joel Simmons

  A recent report from the Philadelphia Daily News indicates that more than half of Pennsylvania’s former inmates are back behind bars within five years. In the last five years, the state spent roughly $244 million on returning inmates.

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