Texas prison population shrinks as rehabilitation programs take root

In July, Texas' prison system posted its lowest head count in five years, even as the state's overall population continued to grow at a fast clip.

Instead of 156,500 prisoners behind bars in Texas' 111 state prisons a year ago, the lockups now hold just over 154,000 — a drop of about 2,500, according to state statistics. Texas, which historically has had one of the highest incarceration rates per capita of the 50 states, is now in fourth place, down from second two years ago.  Read more...

Pennsylvania eyes overhaul of parole process

Halfway houses a focus of program

HARRISBURG -- State officials are working to streamline parole interviews and focus halfway house rehabilitation on their parolees as they implement a law designed to save millions of dollars in corrections spending.

Efficiency measures and program overhauls in the state's penitentiary system are expected to save $253 million over five years, according to numbers from the Senate Republican Caucus.  Read more...

Many criticize life sentences for juveniles, Terms with no parole called 'cruel and unusual'

SAN FRANCISCO — Sara Kruzan was 17 when she was sentenced to die in prison for killing and robbing a pimp in a Riverside motel.

Now, at 32, Kruzan has a chance at being freed, along with thousands of other juveniles convicted of murder who were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Read more...

Texas says rise in paroles gives state bragging rights

Officials say reforms are 'smart on crime' and save money.

Texas continues a steady march away from its Old West image of being tough on crime to one that state leaders now call "smart on crime" and even fiscally "right on crime."

Nothing makes that more apparent than the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole's newly released bragging rights: More prisoners were paroled this past fiscal year than any other year in the past decade, and fewer parolees are being sent back.  Read more...

Arizona parolees to pay drug test fees

Arizona stands to save $500,000 a year under a new law that requires parolees to pay a portion of their drug-testing fees each month, but prisoner advocates fear the additional costs will strain personal budgets.

The law goes into effect Thursday, but Arizona Department of Corrections legislative liaison Jennifer Bowser said the state has yet to determine how much the parolee will pay and when the new requirement will actually be implemented.

"This change is an efficiency, cost-saving thing," Bowser said.  Read more...

Governor Patrick may sign ‘three strikes’ bill

But urges lawmakers to agree to changes

Governor Deval Patrick signaled Tuesday that he may be open to signing a high-profile crime bill if lawmakers agree to make changes next year.

At the same time, Patrick said he had made no final decision about the bill, which is currently on his desk.

“It’s a good bill; it’s not a great bill,” Patrick told reporters just ­before he entered a meeting with House and Senate leaders. “There’s a lot of work that has not yet been done, and I’m hoping that I can get a commitment from the leadership, a commitment to come back and do some of it at the beginning of the next session.”

The bill approved by lawmakers last week would reduce mandatory minimum sentences for drug ­offenses, a Patrick priority, while making many repeat violent offenders ineligible for parole under a much-debated “three-strikes” provision.  Read more...

Gov. Tom Corbett signs Pennsylvania prison reform into law

Prison reform became law on Thursday, sort of.

Gov. Tom Corbett signed Senate Bill 100, which incorporated many of the reform proposals recommended by his Justice Reinvestment Working Group and which passed both the House and the Senate unanimously.

The new law seeks to divert nonviolent, addicted offenders from state prison by better treating their addiction issues at the local level. The law provides for evidence-based practices in county probation departments in line with a program that has proven very successful in Hawaii.  Read more...