• To ensure sufficient bed space for the increasing number of prisoners, the Department of Corrections would need $2–$3 billion to build and operate new prisons by 2017.120 • At the same time, there was little evidence that such a massive investment would make Arizona residents significantly safer. Corrections spending between FY 1997 and FY 2007 increased by 100 percent; however, in 2008, the state’s crime rate was the highest in the nation.
Data-Driven Analysis & Policy To determine what was driving increases in the prison population, the Justice Center provided state policymakers and stakeholders with an analysis based on a comprehensive review of data from multiple agencies. • High rates of failure among people on probation supervision contributed significantly to the projected growth in the prison population.121 • In FY 2006, more than 4,000 probationers were revoked to prison for conditions violations at a cost of $100 million to the state. Of those admitted to prison for failing on probation, 79 percent were identified as property or drug offenders.122 • People who violated the conditions of their probation accounted for one-third of all prison admissions. These probation violators served, on average, sixteen months in prison after their probation was revoked.123 In June 2008, the Arizona Legislature enacted, with overwhelming bipartisan support, the Safe Communities Act, which established incentives for people on probation to comply with their conditions of release and encouraged county probation departments to adopt evidencebased practices to improve community supervision and reduce recidivism. • People on probation may be eligible to earn up to twenty days off their term of supervision for every thirty days they demonstrate positive progression and compliance with their conditions of supervision, participate in their community service assignments, and adhere to court-ordered restitution payments. • Probationers who violate conditions of release lose whatever time they initially earned off of their period of supervision.
120. Ibid. 121. Ibid. 122. Council of State Governments Justice Center, Reducing Crime and Generating Savings: Options for Arizona Policymakers (New York: Council of State Governments Justice Center, February 2008). 123. Ibid; Council of State Governments Justice Center, Recent and Projected Growth of the Arizona Prison Population (New York: Council of State Governments Justice Center, February 2007); Keith Hardison and James Austin, The JFA Institute, Internal Memorandum to the Council of State Governments Justice Center, Assessment of Arizona’s Probation Technical Violators, April 2007.
Chapter 3. Case Studies of Statewide Efforts to Reduce Recidivism and Corrections Spending
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