Justice Reinvestment is on the bipartisan fast track in the Pennsylvania legislature.
A major portion of the prison reform recommendations from Gov. Tom Corbett’s Justice Reinvestment Working Group passed the House on Tuesday with no dissenting votes.
View full sizePennsylvania has been constructing more prison facilities to deal with its increasing prison population.
The plan seeks to divert non-violent, addicted offenders from state prison by better treating their addiction issues at the local level.
The bill passed Tuesday – Senate Bill 100, sponsored by Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R- Montgomery, – now goes back to the Senate for concurrence.
Among the provisions in the bill, is a measure that would allow illegal immigrants convicted of nonviolent offenses to be
paroled straight to immigration authorities for deportation. Secretary
of Corrections John Wetzel said that could save $1.5 million a year.
The bill also provides for evidence-based practices in county probation
departments in line with a program that has proven very successful in
Hawaii.
Non-violent alcohol- and drug-addicted probationers in Hawaii are
required to submit to random testing; those who fail receive swift and
certain punishment, usually a couple of days in the county jail.
The swift and certain punishment has proven more effective in
changing behavior than the current system which can delay punishment for
a probation violation for weeks or even months.
Other provisions in the bill would repeal everything currently in the
law pertaining to pre-release of state inmates, the policy of putting
well-behaved prisoners into halfway houses in advance of their parole.
Such facilities would henceforth be for parolees only.
Only half the governor’s proposed reform was added to SB100; the other
half, which deals with returning a portion of the savings to the
counties for enhanced law enforcement, specialty courts and
evidence-based probation will come later.
Sources in the House say they expect the Senate to insert those measures into a bill being considered there, and the hope is it will also pass before the end of the current session.
The overall estimated savings of the reforms is projected to top $250 million over five years. Most of that would be “reinvested” back into local communities for improved law enforcement and evidence-based treatment.
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