What are some ways in which we can reduce costs in Prisons while maintaining the safety of the public?

Question

I have to write a research paper on this particular topic and I have come up with Growing their own food, recycling extra made food to other prisons/ or as feed for livestock in local farms (this is actually how Norway's prison works). Water conservationa and limiting the amount of flushes to a reasonable amount per day, lets say 6 flushes.

I've tried to consider "going green" but many of these potential energy saving options can be costly in the beginning, and although they are meant to reduce costs "over time, " I cannot include this approach in my research b/c I have to reduce costs.

Any ideas from all you clever cats would be greatly appreciated.

~ Colls

Answer 1

I agree with some of the posts about limiting rec time and time spent in front of the TV.  Those that are in prison are there to pay for a crime that they committed, not live better than hard working law-abiding citizens!  I think that if you put the prisoners to work more and give them less free time, they may learn a few things and MAY become law-abiding citizens when they get out of prison.  I think if prisoners work in some sort of public service while in prison it will better the community and the prisoners.  And, if the prisoners do something to help pay for the cost of their incarceration, then that will reduce the cost to the tax payers!

Answer 2

Outsource our prisoners to Mexico.

Answer 3

Lol this is very good question.  I think we should instead of just letting them sit in prison get them out working.  We somewhat do that now but not nearly enough.  Like when you see them picking up trash out on the highway, but also why not get the to help in many other areas.  Such as help in construction at parks or maintenance.  Just anything that the state needs done an the could use some extra hands well weve got plenty of just sittin around.  If they cant do that then get them to help out the farmers.  Their always needing some extra help.  Plus the prison could get a percentage of the crop for the services of the extra help.  Conserving resources thats even easier because well their prisoners and they dont have much say about lighting or water.  Take the old incandescent bulbs out an swap them out for the flourescent one or even better the LED kind.  Sure these types cost a little more, but in the long run the pay off and pay back for it would far out weigh their cost.  Also the added demand of these would end up driving the price of them down.  For water its a little bit trickier.  Because thats completely for the most part controled by good ole mother nature.  But for the areas that can do this can equip themselves for water retreaval.  Which is basically catching rain an storing it.  The process is very simple.  You basically just use the roof as a giant aqua net catching the rain water and storing it in an underground container.  Also the state could sale prison roof space to power companies to install solar cells for added eletricity at a possibly lower cost to the public.  There are literally thousand of ideas that by far wouldnt put the public at risk at all and help out the state and there in public greatly.  The only thing you got to do is to have a little imagination an put a little thought into it.  For any more possible ideas visit motherearthnews.com

Answer 4

make them pedal stationary bicycles fitted with generators and feed the power back to the grid

Answer 5

hello, I worked within the prison service for about 3yrs the most efficient way to reduce cost would be to cut back on the bureaucracy and paper chain you need to fill in at least five forms every time you request something even if that is something silly like a pen,the government must spend a fortune on the paper alone not even thinking of the time it takes to fill out the forms which are very time consuming,also cutting the time prisoners are aloud to what ch the TV and all there electrical equipment would save a fortune,these are simple steps that would cut costs amazingly.

Answer 6

Summary executions like the Chinese use.  

One bullet is cheaper than 30 years of electricity, water, etc. wasted on housing criminals.

Answer 7

If we imprison fewer people, you will save money. If you spend more on social programs, you can spend less on prisons.

The United States imprisons people at a rate that is 7 times the average of Canada and 12 times the average of Japan. If you imprison fewer people, you will have lower costs. The United States far exceeds any other country in the world at the percentage of people who are imprisoned at any given time. Most of these criminals are guilty of nonviolent crimes and many are subject to minimum sentencing laws.

Sadly, the prison system has become big business and a very profitable one in the United States. Already, the US is doing little more than warehousing prisoners, and the prisoners suffer, and society suffers when they are released. Studies show that longer jail terms do not make us safer from crime.

Once you incarcerate someone, you are responsible for their safety and well-being. Prison cells are very expensive for this reason. They cannot escape and they need to be built to withstand earthquakes and other natural disasters.

Texas has instituted tent city imprisonment. Right now, because of cost savings measures, prisons are more like schools for criminals. If you want to learn how to commit crime, serve some jail time.

If you truly want to reduce total cost of prisons while maintaining the safety of the public. Release non-violent criminals and provide better training and social services to those who need them.

Most criminals would prefer to work at a legitimate job for a living rather than steal or sell drugs. Ask them! With better training in the trades (construction, maintenance, computer programming, culinary arts, and so on) and more jobs programs like Americorp and Job Corps, young people would have a chance for a legitimate career in a legitimate industry. We can create much needed jobs building the infrastructure of American. We can reduce our jail population, increase our social services programs, and create better jobs.

Do some Internet research if you do not believe me.

Answer 8

Take away all their TVs and other electronics.  They are in prison and they live better than a lot of free poor people who cant afford some of that stuff.

Answer 9

In Illinois, the jails make all there own food. They have fields, animals, etc. The extra's they grow go to market and they use that money for jail costs. The inmates work on the farm so that reduces the cost of workers. This also takes care of the "outdoor" time they get. It also keeps them busy so they aren't sitting in the rec. rooms watching tv and doing nothing all day!

Answer 10

Just legalize drugs.  90% of crime is drug related.  If we stop an illegal war on drugs/the American people, offer treatment to those who wanted it, bought coffins for the rest, we'd save billions/trillions(?) of dollars a year.

Look at pot, someone has bumped their heads to put persons in jail/prison for this.  I look at what alcohol has done to my part of the hood and thats a crime, but its legal.

Answer 11

I agree with presidential candidate Ron Paul, we should release all non-violent drug offenders from prison. These people could be taking care of themselves and not harming others. The war on drugs is a complete failure. 1 out of 100 U.S. adults are locked up.