9/9/2008 - September 9, 2008
Detroit Free Press             

For decades, politicians have believed that sounding tough on crime was their ticket to getting elected. Such beliefs, along with a few high-profile crimes, have generally driven prison policies over the last three decades and fueled an enormous expansion of Michigan's prison system with little, if any, improvements in public safety.

But a new poll of Michigan voters, commissioned by Detroit Renaissance, on restructuring the state budget could help change that. It shows wide support for criminal justice reforms that would lead to fewer people in prison and less money spent on corrections.

It's about time. Michigan's prison population of 50,000-plus is more than triple what it was 25 years ago. With a $2-billion-a-year budget for corrections, all of it state tax money, Michigan is one of only four states that spend more on prisons than on higher education. Corrections now devours 20% of the state's general fund.

Michigan taxpayers are finally coming to understand that they are getting too little in return for that enormous investment. The Detroit Renaissance poll found that corrections was the top choice of four areas that voters were asked to consider for major reform with cost-saving potential. The others were Medicaid, state employee health care benefits, and public school teachers' health care benefits.

Two of the top six ideas supported by voters were finding alternatives to prison for nonviolent offenders and releasing some nonviolent offenders before parole. In addition, nearly half of those polled supported reducing the length of mandatory sentences.

That should reassure politicians worried about appearing soft on crime that they can safely support much needed reforms. Those changes include sentencing guidelines that divert more low-level offenders into community programs, wider eligibility for boot camps, expanded prisoner re-entry programs to reduce recidivism, parole hearings for eligible lifers, community treatment for mentally ill offenders, and the release of sick or dying inmates who pose no risk.
Michigan -- for no good reason -- incarcerates at a rate 47% higher than the other seven Great Lakes states, costing taxpayers here an added $500 million a year. That's unconscionable and unrealistic in a state with pressing education, health care, job training, transportation and other needs.

Politicians should now know that it's safe to be smart on crime as well as tough.