The long overdue effort to reform Alaska's criminal justice system to refocus on violent criminals, reduce recidivism, institute sensible punishment and save money as the state tries to scramble out of a river of red ink is laudable. So, why does it leave some of us so itchy?
Maybe it is this: Bad people do bad things; if they are not in jail, they will do them to you. Alaska certainly has its share of bad people, but imprisoning too many of them is causing problems.
The Alaska Criminal Justice Commission, in a December report, said the state could save $424 million over the next decade by cutting its prison population by 21 percent. Nowadays, the state is paying more than $60,000 a year per inmate bed.
The panel, aided by the Pew Charitable Trusts Public Safety Performance Project and U.S. Justice Department, found that Alaska's pre-trial population swelled by 81 percent over the past decade, largely because of longer stays for felony and misdemeanor defendants.
About 75 percent of those incarcerated after trial in 2014 were locked up for nonviolent crimes. The stay for felony offenders mushroomed 31 percent in the past decade, and almost half the inmates imprisoned for parole or probation violations stayed there for more than a month.
Add to that Alaska's burgeoning prison population. It ballooned 27 percent in the last decade, the nation's third-fastest growth and almost three times faster than the state's population, the commission found. In response, Alaska opened its newest correctional facility, Goose Creek Correctional Center, in 2014 at a cost of $240 million.
It was predicted that if nothing changed, Alaska would need to house 1,416 more inmates by 2024. The system would have blown past the state's maximum 5,224-bed capacity by next year, costing at least $169 million in new corrections spending over the next decade. Alaska in fiscal 2016 spent $324 million on corrections, up from 2005's $184 million.
Luckily -- or unluckily, depending on your viewpoint -- things are changing. The inmate population is dropping. Plans last year called for 1,200 early releases for minimum security inmates. At midweek, Corrections was reporting 4,725 inmates. The prisons were operating at about 91 percent capacity, down from the same time last year.
Those exploding corrections costs, coupled with a stunning recidivism rate -- only one in three released from Alaska facilities stays out for even three years -- spurred moves to slash inmate population and reform the system.
Senate Bill 91 is at least part of the answer. Sponsored primarily by Sens. John Coghill, a North Pole Republican, and Johnny Ellis, an Anchorage Democrat, it incorporates Justice Commission recommendations and likely will have a tsunami effect. Some fear it may have the same effect on the rest of Alaska.
Among its myriad changes, SB 91 shortens sentences for some crimes and reduces many low-level felonies to misdemeanors. It cuts arrests for nonviolent lower-level crimes, substituting, instead, citations. It changes bail rules to keep more people out of jail and saves prison beds for serious, violent criminals. It revises drug penalties, expands and streamlines parole, and bolsters probation and parole supervision. It includes victims' services, violence prevention, treatment and reentry services.
Count me among those who believe investing in programs that work is the way to go. And soon. Being tough on crime was pushing us deeper into the hole -- and not making us safer. More crime, more inmates, more money. Repeat. It was beyond time to get smart on crime, but not everybody believes SB 91 or releasing inmates early to save money or avoiding putting them in jail is the answer. Some are even slapping SB 91 as a "soft-on-crime" measure.
The fear is that criminals are criminals until they decide not to be. A petty thief handed a citation or freed early likely will continue to steal. It will be business as usual. Crooks are crooks in and out of prison, but behind bars they are not taking advantage of law-abiding citizens. Police say they fear with SB 91 they will be arresting the same people, only more often. Victims' advocates argue SB 91 does not go far enough to protect victims' constitutional rights, that victims are offered seats at the back of the justice bus.
My worry is that we may not be investing in enough programs to help inmates re-enter society -- or that they are a few years away, or ineffective -- and that the $424 million Alaska is supposed to save over the next decade by reducing inmates' numbers may end up being paid by citizens victimized by them.
Alaska needs a smart, efficient, effective justice system that keeps us safe. SB 91 may be the beginning.
Now, if I could just make that itch go away.
Paul Jenkins is editor of the AnchorageDailyPlanet.com, a division of Porcaro Communications.
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