CT POST: New book,”The Justice Imperative — How Hyper-Incarceration Has Hijacked the American Dream,” identifies 30 specific reform recommendations that could start the vital process of effective reform

Originally Published Mon., Oct. 13, 2014, as: Connecticut Prison Reforms Needed – Morally and Financially. 

The United States has waged a war on the use of illegal drugs for the past 40 years that has not made the country safer, but instead has produced a mass incarceration of its citizens that is financially burdensome, socially destructive and cries out for effective and humane reform.

This effort, accompanied by stricter sentencing policies (e.g. , three-strikes laws and mandatory minimums) and limited use of probation and parole, has created a system of excessive cost, a revolving door of inmate release and re-arrest, and no effective rehabilitation to help them prepare to reintegrate into the community once they have served time. These individuals have been branded with a criminal record that blocks their ability to find work and become a productive, taxpaying member of the community.

Between l980 and 2000, the number of people incarcerated in the U.S. rose almost 700 percent, from 300,000 to more than 2 million, giving the U.S. the dubious distinction of being the leading country of incarcerating its citizens. Nonviolent offenders make up more than 60 percent of the current U.S. prison and jail population.

Financially, the cost of Connecticut’s prison system is the second-fastest-growing budget item after Medicare/Medicaid. From l980 to 2006, Connecticut’s prison costs grew from $48.3 million to $627.7 million, a meteoric rise of 1,300 percent. By 2013, Connecticut’s Department of Correction budget reached $645.3 million.

In Connecticut prisons and jails, the population of inmates has skyrocketed from approximately 3,645 in l980 to 16,600 as of Jan. 1, 2014, an increase of over 300 percent. State prison capacity reached 20,000 only a few years ago.

Fortunately, there are a variety of prison reforms implemented in various states that have demonstrated the ability to reduce the prison population, cut costs dramatically, and reinvest the savings into drug and mental health treatments, vocational training and post-release support for inmates to help them find jobs.

In a book recently published by the Connecticut Malta Justice Initiative, “The Justice Imperative – How Hyper-Incarceration Has Hijacked the American Dream,” the author, Brian E. Moran, identifies 30 specific reform recommendations that could result in four desired outcomes and start the vital process of effective reform:

reduce Connecticut’s prison’s population by half within five years;

reduce Connecticut’s recidivism rate by 30 percent within five years;