Revolving Door

Albert Einstein reportedly said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” I always thought Einstein was referring to my behavior. Since seeing the prison system up close, I now realize he was referring to Virginia’s corrections mentality.



This past week USA today reported on the results of a recent Pew Center Study that showed the number of inmates returning to state prisons within three years of release has remained steady for more than a decade “a strong indicator that prison systems are failing to deter criminals from re-offending.” The report further noted the lack of change “despite huge increases in prison spending….”


Virginia government officials immediately presented Virginia’s “results”: the Commonwealth’s recidivism rate was 28 percent (that’s slightly below the national average) thanks, in large part, to Virginia abolishing parole in 1995. Oh Albert, where art thou when we need you?


Virginia just proved Dr. Einstein’s quote and once again showed that “numbers don’t lie, but liars use numbers.” Yes, Virginia does have a recidivism rate below the national average. But, that rate has not changed in any statistically significant way since the abolition of parole. What has significantly changed is the rate of incarceration (Virginia now has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country), the overall number of inmates (quadrupled since parole was abolished) in DOC’s control and the cost to operate this unyielding bureaucracy (over $1.1 billion and the largest number of state employees: 13,000).


Abolishing parole, incarcerating at an abnormally high rate, warehousing inmates without adequate rehabilitative programs, has not made the public safer.


As the director of the Pew project noted, the national prisoner recidivism rate will likely remain at the same levels unless “state’s more deeply embrace programs to better prepare offenders for re-entry and reward corrections officials for finding alternatives to prison for many non-violent offenders.”


Are you listening Virginia? As I’ve written before, Governor McDonnell should be commended for placing emphasis on prisoner re-entry. But, without directing the same energy to early release, his program is doomed to fail. Virginia cannot afford the hard dollar costs necessitated by its draconian sentencing and incarceration methods. Those costs don’t even include the millions lost in tax revenues from 40,000 individuals who could be living as working, productive citizens. It doesn’t include the soft costs of children deprived of a parent, being raised in one parent or no-parent homes.


Simply put, there is no way to reduce prison costs without closing prisons and letting people go. As Marc Mauer, Executive Director of the Sentencing Project stated, “the only way you can really reduce spending is close prisons. “


This isn’t some “liberal, soft on crime” fantasy. It is fact. In 2005, Texas began implementing sentencing changes and poured money into drug treatment and probation programs. The results: the state’s incarceration rate dropped, since 2003 – there has been a 12.8 percent drop in violent crime, and the state has saved over $2 billion that was needed to build new prisons. That drastic change was spearheaded by Conservative Republican Governor Rick Perry.


Or, ask Republican Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi what he thinks. In 2008, Mississippi, with the highest incarceration rate in the country, implemented a bold initiative to allow inmates to earn significantly more good time credits toward early release. Included in that was the retroactive provision allowing all nonviolent offenders to be eligible for parole after serving just 25 percent of their sentence. Barbour, coincidentally, has been named as a possible candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.


Want to stop the revolving door of recidivism and gain significant financial savings Virginia? Urge Governor McDonnell to boldly implement early release programs as part of his re-entry initiative.


You don’t have to be an Einstein to know that’s the only solution that can succeed.