In today’s difficult economy, we are searching for ways to reduce spending. But in every economic analysis, one must weigh the costs against the benefits.
Correctional education is one area that has been hit hard by state budget cuts. Yet we must carefully consider what will happen by eliminating this powerful rehabilitation tool, which has been proven over and over to reduce the rate of recidivism – the likelihood that an ex-offender will return to prison.
Analysis by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy, for instance, suggests that every dollar spent educating prisoners returns to society $11.09 in reduced victim costs, policing costs, criminal justice system costs, and future prison construction and incarceration costs.
The future of Washington state will be shaped by our decisions today. Specifically teaching inmates to become productive members of society will benefit us when substantially less of our tax dollars are spent warehousing them in prison.
Recidivism rates of 67 percent burden American taxpayers more than $50 billion annually in corrections spending – dollars that could have been spent, say, educating our citizens.
Should we fail to make the critical investment now, we will attempt to maintain an unsustainable and overflowing prison system. I would hope to see safer and more inviting communities, and a more competitive America – a vision only realized through education. (Van Velzen is an inmate at the McNeil Island Correction Center.)
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