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"Earned time" in Texas not reducing costs as in other states

Yesterday I ran across a new report (July) from the National Conference of State Legislatures titled "Cutting Corrections Costs: Earned Time Policies for State Prisoners" (pdf), and was somewhat surprised to see Texas listed among states with supposedly more progressive policies for "earned time."As opposed to "good time" credits that merely reward good behavior (i.e., an absence of misbehavior), "earned time" rewards participation in educational or vocational, substance abuse treatment or other rehabilitation classes as well as work programs. Says NCSL, "Even though some earned time laws offer inmates a fairly small reduction in prison terms, those few days can add up to a significant cost savings across hundreds or thousands of inmates."What's more, "states with earned time provisions have seen recidivism rates either remain unchanged or actually drop," and the "reduced recidivism results in secondary savings through averted future crime and punishment costs...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on August 20, 2009 (boomark / email).