Guest Column:

Missouri prison system needs re-evaluation

By Melissa Spangler, Southeast Kansas Education Service Center

Published Nov. 6, 2009

I am writing in response to the recent news reports and newspaper articles regarding the rise of the Missouri prison population. According to several sources, Missouri's prison population has reached an all time high and the number of corrections officers in each facility is decreasing. The cause of the increase in inmates and decrease in corrections officers is not clear but some things that may be contributing include: changes in funding, the economy, court orders requiring courts to move their backlog cases from its docket at a faster rate and higher crime and conviction rates.

It costs approximately $25,000 to house one prisoner annually. How long an inmate remains incarcerated is questionable, as some become eligible for parole, offenders convicted of a violent crime must complete at least 85 percent of their sentence, some inmates are court ordered to complete substance abuse treatment and others have had the parole board recommend substance abuse treatment prior to their release. Offenders who qualify for parole are monitored in the community for a period of time and others complete their sentences and walk out of prison unmonitored.

At this time, substance abuse treatment facilities in Missouri are overcrowded. There are 1,000 inmates at a minimum in Missouri who are waiting for a bed to open up in a substance abuse facility so they can complete their court-ordered or board-recommended treatment. Many of these inmates have been eligible to begin treatment for anywhere from six months to a year prior before they are actually transferred to begin treatment. In essence, inmates are held longer than the board of probation and parole have recommended due to the overcrowding in the treatment facilities.

As a solution to this problem, the correctional facilities have the option of releasing the inmates on parole to complete this treatment. Doing this would provide many advantages. Offenders released on parole must pay for their supervision, thus turning the tables and allowing Missouri to receive money from, rather than spend money on these offenders. Offenders could be required to wear electronic monitoring devices, which they would also pay for. Instead of receiving treatment paid for by the state of Missouri, offenders completing this treatment while on parole would be responsible for paying for their own treatment.

When discussing options to relieve prison overcrowding, citizens become nervous that offenders may be released before completing their sentence or before they are ready to rejoin society as responsible members. In reality, these inmates are being held past the dates they are eligible for release. Releasing these inmates now would benefit Missouri not only financially but also by insuring offenders returning to our communities are monitored. Holding offenders past their eligible release dates due to treatment center overcrowding could result in inmates completing their entire sentences in the department of corrections. These offenders would not be monitored at all during their transition back into society.

Missouri citizens must realize that the majority of offenders incarcerated in the department of corrections will eventually be released. How they are treated, if they are living in overcrowded conditions, if they are not provided adequate resources, if they are promised release dates and are held past those dates for reasons outside of their control, will be reflected when they rejoin society. Missouri's prisons must be re-evaluated. Now, with the prison population rising higher than ever before and the economic situation impacting prison funding, is the perfect time to do so.