Report: Massachusetts has fewer inmates, but is spending more money on incarceration
Massachusetts is spending more on its county jails and state prisons, despite the fact that there are fewer inmates in them, according to a new report.
The report from the nonpartisan think tank Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC) found that overall spending on correctional facilities has increased by 18 percent over the past five years, while the population in these facilities has dropped by 12 percent.
The Bay State spent $181 million more on its county jails and state prisons in fiscal year 2016 than it did in fiscal year 2011, according to the report. These facilities, however, held 2,900 fewer people over this time. Spending per each inmate rose 34 percent, the report says.
Rising employee wages and new hiring is the primary cause of spending growth. In fact, the report found that employee compensation accounted for 84 percent of the overall spending increase.
A survey conducted in late April by MassINC found that over 40 percent of voters in Massachusetts think that there are too many incarcerated people in Massachusetts, and more than 50 percent of voters believe that inmates are more likely to commit another crime once they leave prison “because they’ve been hardened by their prison experience.”
Read the full report here.
