Michigan, Virginia cheaper than Pennsylvania
By Jim Panyard | PA Independent
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Corbett and the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections do not agree on how much it costs to keep a criminal in Pennsylvania.
But both agree other states incarcerate Pennsylvania criminals at a lower cost to Keystone State taxpayers.
According to Corbett’s proposed budget, it will cost $35,697 apiece to house the state’s 51,321 prisoners in fiscal year 2011-12. The DOC told the House Appropriations Committee Tuesday the cost is $32,986 per prisoner.
They agree that the state inmates farmed out to prisons in Muskegon, Mich. — 1,111 — and Green Rock, Va. — 1,010 — last year are costing the state only $62 per day. That works out to $22,630 per year, about two thirds the cost of keeping them in Pennsylvania.
While the gap between Corbett’s figures and those of DOC amount to an annualized difference of more than $139 million, no committee member questioned the projected 8.2 percent per prisoner cost increase during Tuesday’s hearing.
Susan McNaughton, speaking for the DOC, could not explain why the prisoners sent away to ease prison overcrowding in the state are being housed so much more cheaply. Acting Corrections Secretary John Wetzel said he did not have time to answer questions.
McNaughton said the state wants to get the prisoners in Virginia and Michigan back to Pennsylvania by the end of the year to “(keep) our taxpayer money in Pennsylvania and continue to foster inmate family support, which offenders need for a successful re-engagement with society upon release from prison.”
The DOC is seeking a budget increase of $186.5 million to $1.9 billion in fiscal year 2011-12. Most of the increase is to make up for federal stimulus funding this year of $172.9 million which was used for salaries and benefits for 2,500 correctional officers, Wetzel said. If approved, state taxpayers will pick up the costs of the one-time federal funding.
Corbett’s proposed general fund budget is $27.3 billion compared to the current $28 billion budget. He is facing the challenge of a $4 billion budget gap. And he pledged during his 2010 campaign that there would not be any of no tax or fee increases.
Wetzel told the committee Corbett’s cancellation last month of a $200 million prison planned for Fayette County would save the state “$50 million per year in operating costs.”
The state’s prison system is operating at 108 percent of capacity and expected to rise to 111 percent next year, Wetzel’s presentation showed.
“If we want to decrease our budget, we have to decrease our (prison) population,” Wetzel twice told the committee.
Pennsylvania’s state prison population increased from 8,243 in 1980 to 22,325 in 1990 and 36,816 in 2000. Since then, the prison population has jumped to 51,321.
Prisoners are classified on a scale of one to five, with five being the most dangerous, Wetzel said. About 45 percent of the prison population is Category One or Two.
Wetzel also said 5 percent of state prison beds are left empty, according to national guidelines, “in case there is an emergency.” He said the state’s “recidivism rate,” or the rate at which former prisoners return to the system, is 43.9 percent.
