State targets offensive problem

WASILLA — A long waiting list to get in and loads of repeat customers is a great formula for success in business, but not so much for managing Alaska’s criminal population.

Just a little more than a year after opening the state’s newest prison, Goose Creek Correctional Center at Point MacKenzie, the 1,536-bed facility is already on pace to be filled to capacity by 2016. Add a healthy population growth rate for the Last Frontier and a sky-high recidivism rate among the state’s prison population, and the 49th state finds itself searching for ways to deal with a correctional crisis.

“It’s critically important to find solutions to this, and it’s not just my opinion,” said state House Rep. Wes Keller, R-Wasilla, who co-chairs the Legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee. The committee met in Wasilla July 25 in an all-day session to examine ways Alaska can reform its correctional system.

A 2011 study by the Alaska Judicial Council shows that 66 percent of Alaska inmates will re-offend within three years of release. Also, during those same three years, 44 percent of re-offenders will commit a new crime, the highest rate in the nation.

“This is something that’s been brought to us by the Supreme Court,” Keller said. “The bottom line problem is our recidivism rates are unconscionable.”

That November 2011 Alaska Judicial Council study, titled “Criminal Recidivism in Alaska, 2008 and 2009,” is the latest and most complete data the state has gathered on the problem of criminals re-offending, said Larry Cohn, the council’s executive director.

Besides the issue of a relatively small percent of the state’s overall population using a majority of its resources in the correctional system, those who re-offend “are more likely to commit a more serious offense the next time around,” Cohn said. “All of these studies have shown that there is abundant room for improvement.”

Studying that group of prisoners, the council’s data shows that within a year of release, 35 percent of those who re-offenders commit misdemeanor offenses, while 24 percent commit felonies. After two years, 48 percent of misdemeanants and 39 percent of felons found their way back into the criminal judicial system.

Those numbers are simply too high, Keller said, which is why the Joint Judiciary Committee is discussing a bill for the Legislature to debate next session, Senate Bill 64. SB 64 would create a Sentencing Committee that would examine all the data from programs the state is using to help deter criminals from re-offending. The idea is to examine the numbers to really see which programs are working and which aren’t, then focus resources and funding on the programs that work.

“We need to work those alternatives,” Keller said. “It cuts costs, but it also really reduces the rates. If we can get somebody back to work and back providing for their family, then we’ve won on more than one level.”

If something isn’t done to curb the recidivism rate, the state is facing the prospect of building another $250 million prison within the next few years, Keller said.

“SB 64 reflects a growing consensus that many low-risk, nonviolent offenders can be effectively supervised in the community and lower cost, ensuring prison beds are available for more dangerous offenders,” Keller says in a press statement from the Joint Judiciary Committee. “Building another prison does not translate into better public safety.”

He also said more emphasis on youth offenders, which the Alaska Judicial Council study shows is the largest group of offenders, will pay off financially and socially.

“We would do well to stop that behavior young so they don’t come back, because many of our offenders are young,” Keller said. “Also, corrections is the most expensive way to approach the issue. I think it’s about $160 to $170 a day to keep somebody in corrections.”

Working elsewhere

Dealing with skyrocketing recidivism rates isn’t a new problem or exclusive to Alaska. Texas began its successful corrections reform efforts several years ago partly under the direction of former state Rep. Jerry Madden. Madden was at last week’s Joint Judiciary Committee meeting and advised local lawmakers not to “re-invent the wheel.” What worked for Texas is working in other states and can work for Alaska as well, he said.

He calls the effort “justice re-investment,” and it came about when he was made chair of his state’s Corrections Committee. Then, he was instructed not to build more prisons. That was a daunting task, Madden said, because Texas was predicting 17,000 more prisoners for its system by 2012.

“It’s smart to use money on things that work, and it’s really dumb to use money on things that don’t,” he said. “I didn’t want to invent the wheel again, and it turns out we didn’t need to. There are programs out there that work.”

Identifying what those are “will stabilize the prison population.”

Spending money more judiciously to keep people from re-offending is working, according to a September 2012 report from The Council of State Governments Justice Center. The report examines recidivism rates for 2005 and 2007 and found that Texas dropped its recidivism rate by 11 percent. In Michigan, similar efforts saw 18 percent fewer re-offenders, a 15 percent drop for Kansas and 11 percent for Ohio.

While those three-year numbers show an 11 percent decrease for Texas, the Lone Star State has actually seen a 22 percent decrease in its recidivism rate since 2000.

Those are the results Alaska needs and can achieve, Keller said. Not only will it save millions on building new prisons — the Goose Creek Correctional Center cost $240 million — reducing crime overall can have positive impacts in other related areas, like drug abuse.

That said, refocusing efforts into programs that reduce the recidivism rate does not mean Alaska would go soft on crime or violent offenders, Keller said. In fact, Keller said people would be hard-pressed to classify him as being a soft-on-crime type of legislator.

“This is not a free pass,” he said. “As a matter of fact, I think we need to get hot on making sure that any punishment we put out there is a sure thing. It’s getting tough on the right people while working the programs. People who are violent and a threat, we need to lock them up and keep them locked up. But there are assessment tools we need to learn more about that are working.”

Madden said there are four steps to achieving successful corrections reform. The first step, he said, is passing legislation, which is where Alaska is now. After that comes implementation “and making sure it works,” followed by monitoring that progress. The fourth step is the one Madden said is the most important — “have the courage to change it if something isn’t working.”

Contact Greg Johnson at 352-2269 or greg.johnson@frontiersman.com.