Do Convicts Get a Bad Rap?

I happened across this article written Kevin Wehr, Professor of Criminology at Sacramento State.  Let me highlight a few areas in this eye opening article.

In California, the budget for 2009-2010 on the Department of Corrections is $12.3 billion.  $12.3 billion for public higher education.  Average cost to house a prisoner $48,000 per year.    Contrast that with the $6,200 we spend on each student.  50% of of prisoners will be reincarcerated within two years.    50% of convicts  were unemployed before they were arrested.

60% graduate from the CSUS system.  However, those that are non-white, come from poorer neighborhoods drop out much higher.  Unemployment is 14.8% for those with a less-than a high school diploma.  4.4% for that have a bachelors degree.    So just connect the dots.  Poor, unemployed, non-white…is next weeks convict.  Can California continue to lock up its citizens at this pace?

California has cut out $600 million in funding or about 10,000 students.  Just great!  For every $1.00 spent on education, $4.41 is returned to the economy.  So can we connect the dots again?  Get folks past high school, get them educated and magically they stay out of prison.  Did I just figure that out myself?  How come our legislative  folks can’t seem to draw the same conclusions?

Time to blow up the box on incarceration and start spending on higher education, don’t you think?  Thanks to Profesor Wehr and his students for running down all these numbers.  If there was ever a case to spend money on education, he just hit it right between the eyes!