A budget proposal by Republican legislators would scrap a longstanding requirement that the state Department of Corrections conduct a cost and quality comparison study for publicly and privately operated state prisons. The requirement was in state law but long ignored until about a year ago. Current Corrections Director Charles Ryan ordered that a study be conducted, and the first and only one was released in December. But the requirement would evaporate under the Republican budget proposal. http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/politics/state_politics/gop-budget-plan-would-scrap-arizona-prison-study-02212012 22 Feb 2012 13:29:13 GMT A super-maximum security prison in Downstate Tamms that human-rights groups contend is inhumane and a women’s maximum-security prison in Dwight face closure under a proposed spending plan that Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration described as “the toughest budget we’ve faced.” The governor’s intended mothballing of those two facilities comes on top of his planned closures of two youth-detention centers and six secure halfway houses, the latter of which could result in the early release of as many as 1,000 inmates into the general public, the state government’s largest employee union predicted Tuesday. The nearly $66 million hit to the Illinois Department of Corrections represents the most eye-grabbing piece of a budget plan that the governor will outline Wednesday to a joint session of the General Assembly. http://www.suntimes.com/10785648-418/gov-pat-quinn-close-super-max-downstate-tamms-prison.html 22 Feb 2012 13:29:48 GMT Iowa lawmakers said Tuesday that they reached a deal to increase spending on prisons by $7.5 million this fiscal year, avoiding layoffs of guards. The compromise splits the difference between the $6.5 million approved by the Republican-controlled House and the $8.5 million approved by the Senate, where Democrats have a majority. Lawmakers say the Corrections Department needs the extra money because a contract with state worker unions approved by former Democratic Gov. Chet Culver resulted in higher expenses. The state spends roughly $350 million a year on prisons. http://news.yahoo.com/iowa-lawmakers-theyve-reached-prison-deal-191001833.html 22 Feb 2012 13:30:33 GMT After decades of explosive growth, prison systems face some of the same cost-cutting pressures as other parts of state budgets. Gov. Tom Corbett proposed no increase in prison funding in next year's budget, which — if the state Legislature agrees — would stop a decades-long trend of rapidly rising costs. Similar cost pressures in other states prompted a private prison company to set aside $250 million to buy and run state prisons. Officials here say full privatization — which Ohio did with one of its prisons last year — is off the table. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_782596.html 22 Feb 2012 13:31:08 GMT A group of Wisconsin religious leaders wants to use treatment programs for nonviolent offenders to cut the state's prison population in half by 2015. Local clergy members plan to announce the 11 x 15 campaign -- they intend to slash the number of prisoners by 11,000 -- at 11 a.m. today outside the Marathon County Courthouse. Leaders of North Central Area Congregations Organized to Make an Impact, an interfaith coalition known as NAOMI, are among the 11 organizations joining the statewide effort to get inmates with substance abuse or mental health issues into treatment programs. http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/article/20120221/WDH0101/202210428/1581&located=rss 22 Feb 2012 13:31:49 GMT The head of the Florida prison system said today Jefferson County's struggle to save its prison has touched off a similar effort by other counties with prisons and work camps scheduled to close by June 30 in a massive cost-cutting effort by the Department of Corrections. DOC Secretary Ken Tucker met with Gov. Rick Scott for a half-hour in a regularly scheduled monthly briefing on department activities. Afterward, Tucker said they did not discuss the failed plan to privatize prisons in 18 South Florida counties -- rejected in a 21-19 vote by the state Senate last week -- which the governor can still order on his own initiative. http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20120220/CAPITOLNEWS/120220015/1001/RSS 22 Feb 2012 13:32:25 GMT Legislation working its way through Lansing could bring new life and new jobs to the GEO Prison in Baldwin, but not everybody is supporting the proposal. House bills 5174 and 5177 would allow the state to contract with privately owned correctional facilities like GEO and county jails to manage Michigan prisoners. The legislation requires any contract the state makes with a private facility to result in at least a 5% annual cost savings. http://www.upnorthlive.com/news/story.aspx?id=721792 22 Feb 2012 13:33:01 GMT Legislation intended to relieve state prison and regional jail overcrowding by helping inmates break drug and alcohol addictions, and to be able to reenter society more quickly and successfully, advanced Monday to the full Senate from the Senate Judiciary Committee (SB342). Sen. Evan Jenkins, D-Cabell, said the Senate bill was a refinement of the recommendations of a House-Senate interim committee on overcrowding -- a committee whose proposals went so far as to demand that the Division of Corrections build a new 200-bed state prison. Instead, the Senate bill emphasizes substance abuse treatment for new inmates on the front-end, and provides for better transition out of prisons on the back-end. http://wvgazette.com/News/201202200162 22 Feb 2012 13:33:40 GMT