Inmate inflation: We could cut food costs by incarcerating fewer people
When we were growing up, we had a cliché about the menu for people behind bars. They would get bread and water.
In Wisconsin right now, those who run incarceration facilities are holding the bread and increasing the water. With food prices rising, authorities responsible for the enormous number of prisoners we incarcerate are wondering how much they really have to feed them.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, even with a 12 percent increase in food costs so far this year, the average cost of a meal for those who are incarcerated is $1.11. You really don’t get a whole lot of filet mignon for that.
DOC officials say they’re cutting back on bread and mixing more soy into their mystery meat concoctions. Inmates say their drinks are so watered down, walleyes could be showing up in their milk soon.
No one can be surprised that state and local officials are trying to take their budget problems out on the most vulnerable and powerless people in our society. It’s always politically popular to take things away from those who have the least in our society.
But if rising food prices are creating financial problems for our jails and prisons, there are far easier ways to reduce costs than cutting off food to those we incarcerate. Honestly, why pinch pennies by watering down drinks when we could just as easily save tens of millions of dollars a year?
A couple of years ago, two Republican legislators requested a study of how much money the state could save by providing drug treatment instead of prison for nonviolent drug offenders. The results, documented by Justice Strategies, were startling. At that time, Wisconsin was incarcerating 2,900 low-level, nonviolent drug offenders, many of them first offenders who would not even be prosecuted in other states. Wisconsin taxpayers were paying a whopping $83 million a year to lock up people who really needed drug or alcohol treatment.
Those folks probably would have received it, too, if they had a little more money. For the well-off, alcoholism and drug addiction are considered health problems requiring treatment and rehabilitation. For the poor, addictions are criminalized, resulting in incarceration.
Boy, if we saved $83 million a year, we could buy a whole lot of peanut butter sandwiches for our jails. What the heck, we might even toss in a cookie. We would have plenty of money left over to provide drug and alcohol treatment for everyone we presently incarcerate for their addictions.
The cost of incarcerating a nonviolent drug offender in need of treatment is about $29,000 a year. High-quality, community-based drug treatment with wrap-around support services would cost a fraction of that, about $6,000 a year. Instead of trying to figure out how little we can feed the people we incarcerate, isn’t it time we came right out and admitted the number of people we lock up in this country has become certifiably ridiculous?
According to the International Center for Prison Studies at King’s College, London, the United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population but now incarcerates about a quarter of the world’s prisoners.
Remember when we used to call ourselves the land of the free? During the Cold War, we were the good guys and our archenemies in the world were evil, totalitarian states—the Soviet Union and Red China—that kept their populations in chains.
Well, guess who’s No. 1 in imprisoning its own citizens now.
Incredibly, China, with four times the population of the United States, is a distant second to the United States not only in the percentage of citizens it incarcerates but even in the number of citizens behind bars. The United States imprisons 2.3 million people, compared to 1.6 million in China.
It would be nice if we decided to stop incarcerating such an enormous number of our citizens because of the damage being the world’s largest prison camp does to our own people.
Failing that, let’s stop just because our grocery bills to feed all those imprisoned people are getting too high.
Joel McNally is a syndicated columnist. His e-mail address is jmcnally@wi.rr.com.
May 16, 2008 at 7:09 a.m.
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Yes, diamondback..... Some people CHOOSE to have ten babies by TEN DIFFERENT DADDIES. Then SOME people CHOOSE to keep right on going, popping out a baby a year, just naturally expecting that money is going to keep rolling in. SOME people see dollar signs when they lie down with a man they've only known for three or four days. Then they get all in a bind because the already bogged down Rock County Child Support Enforcement office can't get them "Thier Daddies baby money" in time to buy the NEW guy a gold necklace. SOME people should consider the issue of PATERNITY, before they go out to the bar, get drunk, and lose ALL sence of good judgement. It goe's both ways....
May 14, 2008 at 10:02 a.m.
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Here's an idea....BREAD AND WATER!! Whole wheat bread, so they get their nutrients...
May 14, 2008 at 9:42 a.m.
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Of course, if we had executed the worst of them.....
May 14, 2008 at 8:24 a.m.
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Incarceration is up, the crime rate is down. Build more prisons and enjoy the results. Locking up the criminals is one of the basic necessary functions of government.
How many of these "victimless convicts" plea bargained down to "victimless" status?
May 14, 2008 at 7:42 a.m.
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How many of these inmates have already went through some sort of treatment? I think it's another deter ant to people not to commit crimes.
May 14, 2008 at 6:22 a.m.
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Drug/alcohol addiction treatment is a process that needs cooperation from both sides i.e. patient and doctor, for treatment so that the patient gets cured as soon as possible. If the patient doesn’t follow the guidelines then it becomes impossible for a doctor to cure him.
http://www.drugrehabscenters.com/
May 13, 2008 at 10:43 p.m.
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Fldpan
In my opinion, victimless crime does not exist. A crime is a crime whether there is an identifiable person (as victim) or not. It is not a pre-condition to a conviction for any crime that a victim be proven.
A couple of generations ago, the term "victimless crime" had some practical significance in the practice of criminal law. Defence lawyers used it in an attempt to reduce penalty. Prostitution pornography and (illegal) gambling were said to be victimless and therefore less serious.
The answer is, of course, that in criminal law there does not need to be a victim.
If A sells B a kilo of heroin then (at that point) there is no victim. But the potential harm of the distribution and use of the drug is substantial.
It is a serious crime but without an immediate victim.
Accordingly, victimless crime is not a category which exists. The term itself implies a falsehood: that all crimes must have immediate victims.
Some extreme civil libertarians argue that crimes without victims should be abolished. This is patent nonsense, particularly in today's society.
Even more so, every breach of the criminal law affects society generally, whether there is an identified victim or not.
The community has decided that certain conduct should be criminalized.
May 13, 2008 at 7:40 p.m.
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TCB, What do you think is the ratio of offenders with victims, vs. without? I'd bet 75% of the inmates in Rock County Jail have NO VICTIM.
May 13, 2008 at 7:19 p.m.
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Joel McNally:
Food costs? Wat about the financial burden the criminals placed on their victims? Do you favor criminal rights in general over victims rights-I think you do. McNally you should be ashamed of yourself.
May 13, 2008 at 5:32 p.m.
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This headline is about the dumbest thing I have ever read!!!!!
May 13, 2008 at 4:55 p.m.
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This is a comprehensive addiction portal focusing on topics of alcohol and drug abuse. http://www.alcoholaddiction.org
May 13, 2008 at 4:54 p.m.
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One of the reasons the U.S. has so many in jails/prisons is that they get coddled so much that it really isn't a punishment/deterrent anymore. Try comparing a Chinese prison to U.S Prison and see which you would rather be in. I doubt that any of the Chinese Correctional Professionals are taking an hour out the shift to haul ice around asking the inmates if they want ice to help keep thier soda cold.
May 13, 2008 at 11:28 a.m.
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This guy sued because they weren't feeding him enough and he lost 100 lbs.....still weighs over 300.
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/feature...
May 13, 2008 at 11:27 a.m.
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$29,000 TO TREAT A NON VIOLENT DRUG OFFENDER?
THINK OF IT, THAT IS MORE THAN MANY PEOPLE MAKE IN A SALARY! UNREAL!!!!!!!
May 13, 2008 at 11:10 a.m.
May 13, 2008 at 10:59 a.m.
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villanjanesville-The guy that missed a FEW child support payments hardly qualifies to be in jail ?? Is that because he/she may not be getting enough to eat ? Or is it because the kids only missed a few meals by him/her not paying those few support payments ? Some people treat animals better than their own children.
May 13, 2008 at 10:43 a.m.
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Most of us are trying.Instead of trying to figure out how little we can feed the people we incarcerate, isn’t it time we came right out and admitted the number of people we lock up in this country has become certifiably ridiculous.
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annetteThis is a comprehensive addiction portal focusing on topics of alcohol and drug abuse. <a href="http://www.alcoholaddiction.org">http://www.alcoholaddiction.org</a>.
May 10, 2008 at 12:26 a.m.
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Just to let you know....Milk doesn't get watered down, it comes in little cardboard containers just like from a school. The juice they serve is actually pretty good. They may water down the coffee, but thats decaffeinated anyway. So that's a non-issue.
It's not so much the quality of the food as it is the amount of food. We have people setting there in Rock County Jail going hungry, and I always thought it was innocent untill proven guilty.
Buy cheap food, but give these people enough to subsist on so they aren't always feeing hungry. The hunger treatment is what they give to terrorist suspects. That guy that missed a few child support payments hardly qualifies to be in jail, taking up the space that could be used to house a five time convicted felon.
So, you see.....It isn't about the "quality" of the food. It's about quantity. Give them more bread, and fruit. The last time I checked, an apple didn't have any sharp edges.
Phillip
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