More than just early release

• Published date: 01 November 2011
• Date: 01 November 2011
• Author: Susan Turner
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9133.2011.00769.x

POLICY ESSAY

MONTANA EARLY RELEASE PROGRAM

More than just early release

Considerations in prison reduction policies

Susan Turner

University of California, Irvine

Current Crisis in Corrections

Correctional expenditures are attractive targets for state belt tightening in today’s uncertain

fiscal times. Efforts to curtail spending are being contemplated by some states and

implemented by others. One set of options focuses on achieving operational efficiencies,

for example, by closing prisons, reducing staff, and curtailing services and programming.

Other strategies are focused on the “back end” of the system—reduction in sentence

lengths through earned credits or good time, as well as changes to reduce revocations for

probationers and parolees. Strategies may even be implemented at the “front end” of the

system, diverting offenders to county- rather than to state-level institutions, or changing

felonies to misdemeanors in an attempt to reduce prison admissions. States are grappling

with which options to use but often without enough information to make informed decisions

in terms of expected impacts, costs, and benefits. The scale of the problem and the desire

for solutions are reflected in the recent solicitation by the National Institute of Justice for

a national evaluation study on prison closings and alternative strategies employed by state

correctional systems for dealing with massive state budget shortfalls (National Institute of

Justice, 2011: 4).

The article by Wright and Rosky (2011, this issue) provides us with a study to help

fill the information void. These authors examine an early release program for releasees from

prison and community correctional facilities placed on conditional release or on traditional

parole. The findings indicate that offenders released early, “particularly for those released

directly from prison, may have exacerbated the financial strain problem in Montana as a

result of increased recidivism.” As Wright and Roskynote in their conclusions, all eyes will

Direct correspondence to Susan Turner, Department of Criminology, Law and Society, 3336 Social Ecology II,

University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California 92697 (e-mail: sfturner@uci.edu).

DOI:10.1111/j.1745-9133.2011.00769.x C2011 American Society of Criminology 917

Criminology & Public Policy rVolume 10 rIssue 4