Alternatives to Imprisoment

It is expensive and risky to take a person into custody. The direct costs range from about a thousand dollars a month for a minimim security, dormatory-style lock-up with no siginficant counseling, to about three thousand dollars monthly for a high security suicide-watch, and the indirect costs to the community are even higher. Services of mental health professionals add about $50 per hour to these costs. On average, it is cheaper to give a person a year in college than a year in a juvenile hall, jail, or prison.

The risks of injury to both law enforcement personnel and to a person taken into custody are significant. Prisoners are exposed to all kinds of violence, sodomy, gang conflicts, and diseases. Staff can not be isolated from all of these physical dangers, and the psychic costs are also significant. Staff members have higher rates of divorce and other disorders than the general population, and prisoners are often damaged by the experience of incarceration.

California can follow the lead of other jurisdictions like Genesee County, New York, in expanding high-quality community alternatives to incarceration to handle significant numbers of adult felony offenders, to provide flexibility in sentencing, to reduce the demand for jail and prison cells, and to reduce the drag of the justice system on community resources. In Genesee County, over one hundred non-profit agencies work with the courts, law enforcement, and crime victims to make it possible for offenders to make amends for their deeds without becoming a charge to the county. The result is that the Genesee jail has room to house prisoners from other jurisdictions, at a profit.

Passage of Proposition 36, which calls for treatment of individuals with substance abuse offenses, rather than incarceration, presents a great opportunity to reduce prison populations, since it is estimated that tens of thousands of prison beds are occupied by people serving sentences for possession of drugs.

A 1998 report by the State's Little Hoover Commission, Beyond Bars: Correctional Reforms to Lower Prison Costs and Reduce Crime confirmed the need for better local programs. In most counties, some of these programs are already used to address drunk driving, property and minor drug offenses including crimes like forgery, auto theft, and posession of small quantities of controlled substances. They can also be used in many of the more serious cases where the defendant's lack of prior involvement with the law, or good prospects of rehabilitation suggest that incarceration will only cost the individual his or her job, and will make it more difficult for the person to be re-integrated back into the community. The following are some of the programs most frequently used:

"OR" screening--Soon after arrest, defendants are interviewed and evaluated by professionals to determine whether their record of prior offenses, family stability, and employment history indicates they could be recommended for release on their "own recognisance" pending arraignment in court, and whether they might be elegible for a diversion program that would address the type of offense for which they have been arrested.

Community service--Offenders are assigned to work without compensation for nonprofit or governmental organizations in lieu of paying fines or serving jail time.

House arrest or electronic monitoring--Clients, usually nonviolent offenders, are sentenced to remain at home, except for approved work hours and counseling services.

Supervision--Clients are required to meet specified conditions of employment and education, to avoid further misconduct, and to report periodically to a probation officer. They also may be tested for alcohol or drug use.

Domestic abuse intervention--Offenders who commit acts of family violence attend anger management and other appropriate counseling programs.

Victim-offender mediation--Offenders and victims are assisted by trained mediators in resolving emotional issues and settling on an acceptable restitution agreement that is healing for the victim, and restorative of the community sense of safety. The restorative justice movement proposes that the entire justice system change its focus to assure better treatment of victims, repair of the damage caused to communities by crime, and reintegration of offenders, as a way of healing, as well as punishing crime.

Work release/detention--Largely at their own expense, offenders are placed in a group living arrangment where they receive regular mentoring, counseling and treatment for substance abuse, while maintaining employment.

Drug Treatment--People charged with controlled substance offenses receive drug abuse assessment and counseling either through diversion programs, or under direct supervision of a drug court over a period of several months. Relapses might result in appropriate periods of incarceration, with resumption of treatment if the defendant is amenable. Prisoners can be offered treatment both before and after release, so that they are less likely to be returned to custody.

Deferred prosecution---Offenders agree to a program of self-help, restitution, and community service in lieu of prosecution. Volunteers supervise the development of "contract" requirements and meet weekly with clients. When clients successfully complete the program, their arrest records are expunged.

While most felony offenders are placed in one or more of these alternatives to incarceration, many non-violent offenders are sent to state prison due to a shortage of good qualtiy programs that would meet their needs. Offenders that do complete probation successfully often become law-abiding taxpayers.

Efforts to expand the number and quality of these althernatives to incarceration are always subject to considerable budgtary review, and they tend to lose funding more quickly than jails or prisons in times of fiscal retrenchment. It is important to expand these programs if state prison populations are to be held under control. For a review of methods for evaluating the success of community corrections programs, see Measuring the Performance of Community Corrections by Joan Petersilia, formerly of the RAND Corporation. For a critique of the custody impulse see The American Gulag by Jerome Miller.

For current bills on imprisonment, see the FCL bill status summary.

For a summary of alternatives applicable to juvenile offenders See the Koch Report

Other good resources on alternatives to incarceration are:
* How professionals evaluate defendants for release pending disposition of the case.
* How California Drug Courts work to keep people out of custody (2000)
* California Research Bureau examination of intenstive supervision, day reporting, and other alternatives by Marcus Nieto (1996).
* The use of the various alternatives in the mid-1990's was examined by the CRB in a study of The Changing Role of Probation.
* Philadelphia's Alternatives-to-Incarceration plan (1992)
* A rural Michigan Community Corrections Program EightCAP, Inc
* Marc Maurer Myths and Realities about Crime and Punishment (1997)
* YES Magazine' compilation of organizations and resources on imprisonment (Fall, 2000)

See also, the following books on alternatives to incarceration:
* Community Corrections - Probation, Parole, and Intermediate Sanctions... by Joan Petersilia (1997 Oxford Press)
* Sensible Justice: Alternatives to Incarceration by David Anderson (1998)
* Between Prison and Probation: Intermediate Punishments in a Rational Sentencing System by Norval Morris and Michael Tonry(1991)