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N.D. (NewsDakota.com) Crossover is three weeks away and it’s a time when all bills need to move from one house to the other. The Senate bills remaining go to the House and the House bills come to the Senate. Our crossover date is February 27th.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has been dealing with a number of difficult issues. One such issue is the growing population in our Department of Corrections. Lee Ann Bertsch, the Director of the Department of Corrections said earlier this week that we should not build any more prison cells! Her comments underscored the fact that something needs to change in the way we handle corrections. Our newly remodeled prison is completely full! County jails are either filled or close to being filled. We will soon be sending increasing numbers of inmates to out- of – state facilities. That is not cheap, to say the least.
The total General Fund Proposed budget for the Department of Corrections is $250.6 million, $69.7 million, or 38.5% more than the $180.0 million appropriated for the current biennium. The department is also asking for 22 new positions to address the increased inmate counts. As of December, 2014, we had 1,494 males and 206 females incarcerated. That does not include the a total of 6,495 on parole and probation.
Costs for a bed per day in the State Prison in Bismarck is $118.31. Those costs continue to increase. In addition, the Parole and Probation Division is managed by a system of case workers. These case workers are responsible for staying in contact with their respective cases to insure that they are honoring their parole and probation stipulations and directives. This is not an easy job. The case loads have grown and our case workers are working overtime trying to stay on top of their work assignments. If they are not successful, the parolees end up back in prison, adding to the pressure in Corrections.
The department is searching for answers, but they are hard to come by. With the growing population in the state, coupled with significant activity in oil country, the pressure on the prison system is intense! We are convinced that we can’t simply continue to build prison cells. We need to be far more creative in our response to the challenges facing our Department of Corrections.
The legislature has explored various measures to relieve some of this pressure. They include Community Service programs, Drug Courts, electronic monitoring, wrist or ankle bracelets, and others. We have also invested in treatment programs, although, in my opinion, are investments in treatment have been far less than necessary.
We know that a significant number of our inmates are incarcerated because of drug related crimes. Many of these inmates could benefit from treatment. We know that treatment works. There are existing programs in the state that have had good success with alcohol and drug treatment. Unfortunately, for the most part, these programs are underfunded.
In my opinion, we must increase our investment in treatment programs and we must do so this session. More prison cells is not the answer. More investments in treatment programs is the direction we should take. Time is of essence!
Our next Legislative Forum will be Saturday, February 14th in the Skoal Room of the VCSU Student Center. We hope you can join us. The forum will begin at 9:00 a.m. Until next time, you may reach us at lrobinson@nd.gov; nmuscha@nd.gov; and dhkiefert@nd.gov.