Something Needs To Change
Leading lawyers look at the changing a system that has sent thousands of Colorado residents to prison.
Colorado prisons by the numbers
Costs
• Per prison bed: Between $40,000 and $90,000 to build
• To house an inmate: $26,000 annually
• Community corrections housing: $12,900 annually per inmate
Population
• 1985: 4,000
• 2005: 20,000
• 2009 (projected): 25,000
• Estimated need for new prison beds each year: 1,000
Department of Corrections budget
• 1985: $57 million
• 2005: $533 million
18 Colorado's national ranking for its state incarceration rate
438 Number of inmates per 100,000 residents in 2004
358,000 Number of U.S. prison inmates in 1970
2.3 million Number of U.S. inmates in 2004Source: Colorado Lawyers Committee
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5257854,00.html
1 comment:
I'm not sure if this is the place for this or not,
but I have long thought our nation should look at successes other countries have achieved when it comes to dealing with drug addiction.
prison is not, imo, the answer.
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