Prison Costs Rising Even as Crime Declines.

• Position: Brief Article

Crime will continue to decline in the new millennium as long as the economy stays strong, but rising prison costs will hamper state budgets, predicts Robert Sigler, professor of criminal justice, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. The cost of maintaining prisons will "break" state budgets in the coming years, precipitating a return to emphasis on treatment and sentencing reform, rather than long prison sentences, he warns. "The prison population is growing fairly rapidly, and prison sentences are longer. In order to hold these extra prisoners, we build new prisons at a cost of several million dollars each, and then these facilities must be staffed and maintained."

The cost of corrections increases every year and is now the largest single expenditure for many states. "This is particularly aggravated by habitual offender statutes that lock up offenders for life. The life expectancy for the inmates is about the same as the life expectancy for a new prison, so we are locking up an increasingly larger permanent population which must be housed...