Playing hardball with criminals.

• Author: Eckl, Corina
• Position: Corrections spending - Includes related articles on juvenile corrections, prison construction and alternatives to incarceration - Cover Story

Legislators and the public demand stiff penalties for criminals, but the costs may mean the taxpayer strikes out.

Inmates in the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility rioted for 11 days beginning on April 11 last year. That clinched the state's decision to pump substantial money into the corrections budget. Lawmakers were already committed to bolstering state funding for corrections, but the disturbance resulted in even more funds and a change in how the money would be used. Instead of spending most of the new money on parole and community corrections programs, the legislature shifted it to institutional operations and more prison guards. The bottom line was an 18.4 percent increase in corrections spending for FY 1994.

Ohio's spending experience isn't unique or an aberration--most states have devoted significant amounts to corrections. Spending in the last decade illustrates the extraordinary growth in state corrections budgets. In FY 1982, the states spent almost $6 billion on corrections. Ten years later, the amount had grown to more than $20 billion, an increase of 241 percent. Adjusted for inflation, the increase was 124 percent, more than double the inflation-adjusted rise in general state expenditures.

"In the 1980s, we had a get-tough-on-criminals philosophy with mandatory sentencing and longer sentences, particularly for drug crimes. As a result, corrections spending accelerated," says Steven Gold of the Rockefeller Institute's Center for the Study of the States at the State University of New York.

Recent data suggest that this trend is continuing into the mid-1990s. State corrections spending in FY 1993 increased more than 8 percent from the year before. FY 1994 tells a similar story. Total state appropriations for corrections grew 9.7 percent, capturing the title for the biggest percentage increase of any state spending category. This rate of growth surpassed the increase in appropriations for Medicaid, the long-time nemesis of state budgeters.

Even during fiscal downturns, corrections spending has held its own. During the recession of the early 1980s, state finances were in a turmoil. By 1983, 35 states had cut their budgets and 19 were projecting deficits. It is difficult to imagine that any spending category could remain intact under those conditions, but corrections did. Not only did corrections budgets maintain overall spending levels, they grew faster than any other program.

The recession of the early 1990s reflects a similar situation. Funding for corrections remained a priority despite some serious budget problems. Even California, a state with a multi-billion-dollar budget deficit, increased corrections appropriations by 15.3 percent for FY 1994. This occurred at the same time the state was cutting its general fund budget and followed 10 years of corrections spending that grew, on average, 14 percent annually. Corrections is now about 7 percent of total state spending in California, up from about 3 percent a decade ago.

Corrections is somewhat different from other state programs because such a large proportion of corrections budgets cover institutional operating costs, which are pretty well established. This makes it difficult for states to control corrections spending in the same way they control other state programs. "Corrections costs are driven by sentencing laws, the physical characteristics of prisons and prisoner-to-guard ratios," says Harold A. Hovey, editor of State Policy Reports. "I doubt that there is anything very exciting that can be done to control corrections budgets using traditional budget cutting strategies."

Spending on corrections remains a relatively modest portion of total general fund budgets, averaging just over 5 percent nationally--up from just over 3 percent in FY 1986. It's the continued rate of growth that raises red flags. "The new prominence of crime issues with the public gives every reason to expect corrections budgets to continue to grow rapidly," says Hovey. This presents a dilemma for state lawmakers: Can they continue to fund the rapid increases in corrections spending, often at the expense of other state programs? There isn't an easy answer. The problem is exacerbated because corrections isn't the only category straining state budgets. Medicaid and elementary and secondary education keep consuming big chunks, and other state programs want their share, too. It seems inevitable that something has to give, but so far it hasn't been corrections.

Prison Population Booms

Several factors influence the growth in corrections budgets, but increases in the number of criminals sent to state prisons are the most conspicuous...