Research
Pruning Prisons: How Cutting Corrections Can Save Money and Protect Public Safety
This report finds that substance use treatment provided in the community is more cost-effective than imprisonment. Substance-involved people have come to compose a large portion of the prison population, and substance use may play a role in the commission of certain crimes.
Key findings in this report include:
- Approximately 16 percent of people in state prison and 18 percent of people in federal prison reported committing their crimes to obtain money for drugs.
- Treatment delivered in the community is one of the most cost-effective ways to prevent such crimes and costs approximately $20,000 less than incarceration per person per year.
- Community-based drug treatment provides bigger crime reduction returns than prison--for every dollar spent on drug treatment in the community, the state receives $18 in benefits.
