Smith of the Long Field

General happenings in the life of John Longfield-Smith

Prison Spending Outpaces All but Medicaid

March 3, 2009
By SOLOMON MOORE
 

One in every 31 adults, or 7.3 million Americans, is in prison, on parole or probation, at a cost to the states of $47 billion in 2008, according to a new study.

Correction spending is outpacing budget growth in education, transportation and public assistance, based on state and federal data.

Only Medicaid spending grew faster than state corrections spending, which quadrupled in the past two decades, according to the report today by the Pew Center on the States, the first breakdown of spending in confinement and supervision in the past seven years.

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March 2, 2009 Posted by smithofthelongfield | Correctional Health Care, Corrections, Current Events, Jail and Prison Reform | , | No Comments Yet

What’s Not to Like About This Guy?

California Prison Medical Court Receiver Robert Sillen Bares All Before Sacramento Press Club

Sillen-at-Sac-Press-Club.jpg

By Frank D. Russo

Robert Sillen, appointed Receiver of the California prison medical care system by Federal Court Judge Thelton Henderson, spoke to the Sacramento Press Club yesterday. Here is what he said without notes, looking at the audience in the eye.

He is a man on a mission, wanting to tell all what he is doing and why. He faults the political system for not being able to take care of this problem, but lays the blame at the governors and legislatures of the last 30 years. He says unnecessary deaths have occurred. He describes his role and how he perceives it, predicts that some state officials will eventually be held in contempt because of the number of court orders that have not been obyed, and indicates AB 900 has made his job more difficult, not easier. The bracketed items are my editor’s notes.
“I am one of those kinds of people who think that everybody ought to know what’s going in the prison system, whether they want to or not.

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November 2, 2007 Posted by smithofthelongfield | Correctional Health Care, Corrections | , | No Comments Yet