• "Prisons and other fear-based punitive programs are 'criminogenic'-meaning they increase the behavior they are meant to treat." (RAND) This results in increased barriers to employment, broken connections to family and recidivism.

• In 1996, 6% of prison budgets were spent on rehabilitative programs and 94% went for building, staffing and maintaining prisoners.

• Among state prison inmates in 1997:
  

  ­ -10% in drug treatment programs-down from 25% in 1991

  - 9% are in full time job training or education programs

  - 24% are completely idle

  "Because states sharply curtailed education, job training and other rehabilitation programs inside prisons, the newly released inmates are far less likely than their counterparts two decades ago to find jobs, maintain stable family lives or stay out of the kind of trouble that leads to more prison." (F. Butterfield, New York Times, 11/29/00)

• Minimal resources are allocated for post-release supervision and community-based reentry programs with a focus on treatment interventions.

Sources:
The Sentencing Project
Bureau of Justice Statistics
New York Times 11/29/00