Democracy in America

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American prisons

More room behind bars

Dec 16th 2011, 21:11 by R.W. | NEW YORK

IN AMERICAN slang, to send someone "up the river" means to send him to prison. The phrase comes from New York, specifically, from Sing Sing prison, which is around 30 miles north of New York City on the Hudson River. I visited a couple of years ago, and was struck by the beautiful views the inmates had of the Hudson River Valley. Some local politicians think the views are wasted on convicts, and have suggested replacing the maximum-security prison with condos. Perhaps it comes as some comfort to them knowing that there are fewer convicts on whom those views are wasted. In 2000 it housed 2,300 prisoners; today around 1,700 are imprisoned there. Crime rates have fallen and drug laws changed in New York; both have resulted significant declines in the state's prison population. And its governor, Andrew Cuomo, plans to close some prisons to close budget gaps. After all, prison is expensive: according to a Pew report, states spent between $13,009 (Louisiana) and $44,860 (Rhode Island) in 2005 per prisoner per year. Total state spending on corrections now runs around $52 billion. 

But that figure may be falling. According to the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2010 America’s prison population declined year-on-year for the first time in nearly four decades. There were 1,605,127 prisoners behind bars in state and federal correction facilities in 2010, 9,228 fewer than in 2009. Although that is less than a percentage point decrease, it is still significant. Half of the states reported decreases in prison populations, with Rhode Island and Georgia (where one in 13 adults is under some form of correctional control, one of the highest proportions in the country) reporting the largest percentage decreases, 8.6% and 7.9% respectively. There were some increases, most notably Illinois, which saw the largest increase in absolute numbers, followed by Texas. But the largest percentage increase in the state prison population was in Iowa, up 7.3%, followed by Illinois, up 7.2%. 

The imprisonment rate is also down. The rate last year was about one in 201 residents. Since 2007, when it peaked at 506 per 100,000 residents, the imprisonment rate has declined each year. Illinois reported the largest rate increase, while it fell in 33 states. About one-third of admissions result from parole violations. Surveillance has been a key component in correction supervision since the 1980s. Consequently, parole violations caused a seven-fold increase in people returning to prison from 1980 to 2000. In 2009 parole violators accounted for a third of all state prison admissions, but this sort of admission declined last year, thanks in part no doubt because of the efforts made at the state, local and federal level to lower recidivism rates. According to a Pew report, 43% of offenders are returned to state prison within three years of their release. 

Also encouraging is the news that releases from prison exceeded admissions in 2010 for the first time since 1977. This means that many prisons are not operating at full capacity. Twenty-eight states are operating at or below their highest capacity. Mississippi, for instance, operated at 46% above its top capacity in 2010. The same holds true at federal prisons where are operating at 36% of its highest reported capacity. It is not all good news. Black men still have a horrifically high imprisonment rate—nearly seven times higher than while males. But this is an encouraging first step on a very long march.

Readers' comments

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jvictor1789

The so called justice system in America has three times the incarceration+parole+probation rate of most European nations, while the crime incidence ratio in the US is the same or lower that of Europe.

It is an abject failure but nobody does anything about it, since only the bottom 40 % (by income)are affected-and quite disproportionally minorities.

shaun39 in reply to jvictor1789

No.

The US has 9 times the prison population (measured per capita) of the UK.

The US prison population is 12 times the EU average, as a proportion of population.

And EU countries already lock far too many people up - the drug prohibition must end here too (we don't tend to lock up users, but we do marginalize them and create an unnecessary black market).

Actually, the US does have far more crime than Europe - ranging from rape to homicide. Violent criminals absolutely must be separated from society.

But fewer than 5% of American prisoners have done anything violent. They took drugs for fun; they sold drugs because of black market profits; they have a criminal record that stops them working, so they must turn to such things as fraud and theft. It's a fucked up and oppressive system - the US is far closer to China or Singapore than it is to freedom and personal liberty.

This must change.

To reiterate: legalize drugs (supply and consumption), use far more alternative sentencing for non-violent offenders (confiscation of property, community work, agricultural labor, military service, counseling and education/ training opportunities), and deny employers access to criminal records (with few exceptions).

For murderers and rapists though, I really don't see why they should ever again be released. After exhaustion of appeals, outsource incarceration of such convicts to third world countries.

shaun39

The US has 230 million adults, or 115 million men. With 1.6 million prisoners, 93% of whom are male, this implies that 1.3% of all American men are locked up right now. Many more are on parole, or have suffered at some time.

This is truly a criminal system! Why must so many Americans suffer humiliation, desocialization, stigmatization and waste?

Fewer than 5% of all offenders committed a violent offense - the vast majority are there because of drug prohibition. Many more are there because of other stupid and draconian penalties (fraud and shop lifting are bad and require punishment - but there is no justification for locking somebody up 24/7). And more men still are behind bars because of stupid laws that make organized crime pay (again, mainly the drug prohibition).

At 1.3% plus people stuck in the parole system, this really is on a similar scale to slavery - and it's every bit as socially destructive.

Legalize consumption and supply of all drugs now. End the terrible crime of mass incarceration of Americans!

ow4744

Is it Georgia that has recently introduced some sweeping criminal justice reforms, particularly in relation to drug offenders? It would seem they are bearing fruit.

Dian Cecht

Legalise drugs and disarm the population, then everyone could live safely in a Condo on the Hudson.

Dian Cecht in reply to ExNike

US gun laws encourage every American popinjay to strut about as if they were Bat Masterson, when in reality they are Barts, unable to even load a dvd in to a tray. Legalising drugs would decriminalise a raft of laws primarily affecting the poor, as getting rid of prohibition of alcohol did.

Von Neumann

"There were some increases, most notably Illinois"

Illinois incarceration rates are heavily skewed, and cannot be compared to the rest of the country.
How would they look like if you didn't include jailed governors?

Gearoid O Fearghail

2 problems

1) "The rate last year was about one in 201 residents. Since 2007, when it peaked at 506 per 100,000 residents"
Use consistent statistics, please
Thus change the latter stat to 1 in 197, or the former to 497 per 100,000...

2) "Also encouraging is the news that releases from prison exceeded admissions in 2010"
Well, duh, how else do prison numbers decrease?

teacup775

Gee, after a decade, we might escape the crowding problems in California, shut down a few facilities and divert some of the $6 billion spent on 30,000 prison guards to some other use.

As for New York, I can see a more direct solution. Keep Sing Sing. No need for a condo conversion. Just move banking executives there.

shubrook

I'm all for sharing the View of the Hudson River Valley with a wealthier demographic, but why would we have to demolish the prison to do it?

k.a.gardner in reply to shubrook

Or renovate "Sing Sing On-The-Hudson" to trendy Loft Condominiums. Then Cuomo sets up a New York State Cooperative Housing Corp. to collect mortgage and escrow. It can charge top dollar because people will kill for waterfront property.

k.a.gardner

A very long (and percentified?) march aside, I also think bucolic maximum-security-prison-views anywhere are wasted on convicts and should be replaced with condos.

jr_

"Crime rates have fallen and drug laws changed in New York; both have resulted significant declines in the state's prison population. And its governor, Mario Cuomo, plans to close some prisons to close budget gaps."

In what year are you writing this?

k.a.gardner

Without reading much past the first sentence (which I'll do directly) I think Sing Sing has been called the Ossining Correctional Facility for quite some time.

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