Taxpayer dollars are wasted in prison

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On Oct. 23, the Bangor Daily News printed a lengthy article titled, “Laws protect lawbreakers: Inmates in Maine guaranteed medicine while seniors go without.” The article describes the significant increase in the cost of providing medical care to inmates in Maine and quotes officials who feel sorry “for the poor guy who needs insurance and can’t afford it and is working every day, yet as taxpayers, we are caught up in the burden of supporting people who aren’t productive members of society.”

Although I disagree with the premise that taxpayers need not take responsibility for the people they institutionalize, I agree wholeheartedly that taxpayers across the country should be upset about how their tax dollars are being spent as regards our correctional system. The fact of the matter is that there has recently been a tremendous surge in the number of prisons built, in the number of people incarcerated, and in the hundreds of millions of tax dollars required to find this explosive growth.

Three statistics will suffice to confirm these developments:

. Four new prisons-jails open every month in this country

. In 1972, our prison population was just 330,000; by mid-1998, the number exceeded 2 million.

. The U.S. Department of Justice admits that for every $100 million state legislatures spend on new prison construction, they are committing taxpayers to spend $1.6 billion for the next three decades to operate these facilities.

There are several factors contributing to our burgeoning prison population:

. The deinstitutionalization of people with mental illness

. The widespread adoption of tough-on-crime laws (in particular three strikes and you’re out)

. The escalating war on drugs and mandatory drug sentences

The next obvious question to be asked is how effective all this activity and all these expenditures have been. Proponents would say that it is working well since crime rates are generally down. But before we attribute that trend to our jailing more people than ever, we should face up to some extremely disturbing facts:

. 72 percent of the people entering state prison for the first time in this country are non-violent offenders.

. More than 40 states prosecute and incarcerate children as young as 14 as adults, while 1.5 million children have a parent in prison or jail.

. The Corrections Corporation of America, a for-profit company that runs correctional institutions for state governments is ranked among the top five performing companies on the New York Stock Exchange for the past three years.

. Recidivism rates are staggering. Ninety percent of all prisoners serve their term and are released. Sixty-three percent return within three years of release; 80 percent of ex-prisoners with serious mental illness will be re-imprisoned.

. Of the 730,000 people entering prison or jail each year, 33 percent have been there before.

One of the most disturbing realities is the plight of the increasing numbers of those incarcerated as a result of their severe mental illness. It is estimated that 10 percent to 15 percent of the inmate population has mental illness; 85 percent have drug and/or alcohol problems. The lack of adequate treatment inside correctional institutions and the growing numbers of people with mental illness without adequate community treatment has meant our jails and prisons have become the largest providers of institutional mental health care in the nation. In fact, there are more people with mental illness in our jails and prisons than there are in our mental hospitals. As a consequence in 1998, 21 states were under certified class action suits involving the failure to provide adequate mental health services for inmates.

The situation in Maine is especially grim in this respect. Maine jails report 35,000 admissions each year. There are almost 2,000 prison inmates. Estimates are that 15 percent of all admissions will require specialized services due to serious mental illness. The Department of Corrections budget in 1990 was $64,311,056; in 1999 it was $83,113,317. We opened Maine’s Supermax prison in 1992. Eight years later we are in the process of building a new prison and doubling the number of forensic beds in our State Hospital. Of Maine’s 16 jails, nine have no psychiatric coverage, six have no social work or psychological coverage. Ten jails have no nursing coverage. A 1992 report indicated that 40 percent of Maine’s jails were holding people with mental illness without criminal charges. Ask any police officer or Maine sheriff if they are trained and equipped to care for and treat mental illness – the answer will be that they are not.

Given shortages of staff, dollars, medical and psychiatric personnel, and training, inmates with mental illness are more frequently victimized in prison and more likely to spend long periods of time in segregation or in maximum security lock-down 23 hours a day – where their mental status is likely to deteriorate. Research shows that isolation and segregation produce symptoms. Called prison induced syndrome, the inmate experiences hallucinations, extra sensitivity to external stimuli, anxiety, restlessness, and an increase in primitive aggressive fantasies. Because frustration and rage are aggravated by the complete absence of activity or meaningful outlets for these feelings, anger and rage are the result. Non-mentally ill inmates develop this syndrome. Mentally ill inmates deteriorate even more rapidly – especially if they do not receive medications and other treatment necessary for sanity.

With costs and recidivism this high, taxpayers ought to ask questions. Do I want to spend $83 million a year incarcerating people, filling them with rage, releasing them, re-arresting them, and starting again? Is my money well spent with recidivism rates as high as 80 percent? If 90 percent of lawbreakers will eventually return to my community and 73-80 percent offends again, am I purchasing effective public safety? Are my tax dollars being spent to make my community even more dangerous? Is it cost effective to hold inmates for long periods of time without rehabilitative or meaningful activity? Should 72 percent of our prison/jail population be composed of non-violent offenders?

As long ago as 1995, Maine’s legislature recognized that changes were needed. They passed a law calling for a state strategy to prevent the inappropriate incarceration of seriously mentally ill people and mechanisms to divert them to treatment. They directed the state to establish comprehensive services for persons with mental illness who were leaving correctional facilities – so that they wouldn’t recidivate. These programs and plans have been only partially developed. Taxpayers, people with mental illness and their families, and law enforcement and correctional officers are paying the price for this failure.

NAMI Maine, and other groups across the country are calling for reform. NAMI Maine is calling for the following:

. Protocol and statutory changes which govern how segregation can be used for persons with mental illness.

. Increased funding for adequate medical and mental health coverage in our correctional facilities.

. Expansion of the quality review role of prison boards of visitors which focus on prevention of class action and implementation of accreditation standards for Maine’s correctional facilities.

. The development of diversion programs designed to keep non-violent offenders, especially those with mental illness and/or those with mental illness and substance abuse, out of the correctional system.

. Increased training opportunities and funding for law enforcement and corrections staff.

Carol Carothers is the executive director of NAMI Maine in Augusta.