Putting the state off-balance

by Peter Wagner, July 13, 2003

Sixty-five percent of New York State’s prisoners come from New York City. But even if the prisoner origins were not disproportionately concentrated in New York City, the geographic disparity would still be significant. One way of expressing the geographic disparity between the general New York State population and the prison population is with the idea of a population center.If everyone in New York State stood at their census address on a flat, weightless map of the state, the map would balance near Otisville in Sullivan County, just over the border from Orange. (See the red cross on the map).Ninety-two percent of New York State’s 71,466 prisoners are incarcerated in upstate prisons. The population center for the prisoners, on the other hand, is near Hamilton in Madison County over 100 miles to the north and west. (See the yellow cross on the map.)
Read more about prisoners and the census in New York

Lost population-based revenue is a hidden cost of incarcerating prisoners out-of-state

by Peter Wagner, July 6, 2003

Although most state prisoners are housed within their state, a growing number of states are paying to incarcerate their prisoners in other states. (Federal prisoners may be incarcerated in any state, but the originating state has no control over where the sentenced prisoner is confined.) Most frequently, a state justifies housing prisoners out of state on the grounds that it costs less.

For example, Connecticut claims that incarcerating a prisoner costs $95 a day in Connecticut, and considerable savings can be realized by paying Virginia’s rate of $64 a day for each prisoner sent to that state. There are two typical arguments against out-of-state transfers.

First, increasing the distance between a prisoner and his or her family makes visits more difficult, increasing recidivism. Second, it’s better for a state’s economy to spend its money in the state. While $95 may be a greater expense than $64, at least the funds remain in the state.

The Connecticut Secretary of State estimates that the state receives $5,932 in various types of annual federal aid for each resident in the state. Per resident, that’s a loss of $16.25 a day, or 53% of the “savings” from sending prisoners to the “cheaper” Virginia prisons. Prisons are a profitable business in Virginia, first on a fee-for-service basis, and again from the Census’ practice of counting prisoners were they are incarcerated rather than where they are from.

Source: Shipping Prisoners Could Cut State’s Census Count, by Agnes Diggs, The Advocate (Stamford, CT) April 10, 2000.)