Justice reform a GOP opportunity
Dems keep pumping cash into wasteful prison system
Beacon Hill will take on criminal justice reform this fall. For an issue that rose to the top of the legislative agenda with progressive pressure, this is a massive opportunity for Republicans to seize. Like the state’s transportation bureaucracy, which required a control board to clean it up, the Massachusetts corrections system is rife with political patronage and wholly unaccountable for the billions of hard-earned taxpayer dollars it consumes.
The system is most wasteful when it comes to those suffering from addiction and mental illness. Improving behavioral health services is the only way to keep these individuals from cycling in and out of jail and racking up tremendous costs. The problem is delivering treatment in correctional facilities is generally less effective and twice as expensive as therapy provided in the community. Even worse, the bill is borne entirely by the state because inmates typically have no insurance.
Massachusetts desperately needs a community corrections system that holds these individuals accountable while providing them the care they need outside of costly imprisonment. But the Probation Department operates community corrections, and Democrats ran the agency into the ground with politically-connected hires.
Judges lost faith that Probation could safely supervise these individuals, so more often than not they’re sent to the Houses of Correction. With a full-blown opiate crisis on our hands this is costing taxpayers tremendously, and it is tragic for those struggling with addiction who desperately need competent help.
A recent study authored by the former head of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation for the think tank MassINC shows just how badly the Democrat-controlled Legislature is failing us. Over the past five years, correctional populations declined by more than 10 percent, and yet correctional spending rose by 18 percent. (If spending had been held in line with inflation, the budget would be $72 million lower today). Make no mistake, the increase did not provide additional treatment or new programs to reduce recidivism; it paid for raises and more correctional officers to supervise fewer inmates. The closer you look, the uglier it gets. An independent review by the Council of State Governments showed sex offenders and other violent criminals are not receiving in-prison services proven to reduce their likelihood of committing another crime. The same review also found that Massachusetts lets the most dangerous offenders out of prison without supervision. Instead, the state’s dysfunctional corrections system uses limited resources to look after those deemed least likely to re-offend. Failure to fix these problems exposes everyone to danger, particularly law enforcement professionals who regularly put themselves in harm’s way.
Rather than trying to peg Democrats who back reform as soft on crime, Massachusetts Republicans should take a page from elsewhere. In many states, corrections reform has provided an opportunity to shrink government, eliminate waste and reduce crime.
Recent polling from MassINC shows Republicans in Massachusetts want to follow a similar course. Republican voters call for a treatment-over-prison response to the opiate crisis by a two-to-one margin.
When it comes to passing legislation, Republican lawmakers should begin by demanding data and transparency. None of the reform bills filed by Democrats asks correctional agencies to account for how they spend $2 billion in public money each year. Republicans should also back pending legislation eliminating mandatory-minimum drug sentences for all but true drug kingpins, diverting defendants suffering from addiction from the justice system into treatment, and requiring that all high-risk offenders return to the community with appropriate supervision. Lastly, Republicans should fight for provisions that identify the savings these reforms generate and adjust correctional budgets accordingly.
Gov. Charlie Baker clearly sees the opportunity. Just last week the administration announced a new program to divert low-level offenders in Worcester into treatment. By joining the governor and truly leading on criminal justice reform, Republicans in the Legislature can demonstrate to voters how staying true to our vision of small and efficient government benefits all.
Jennifer Nassour is a Boston attorney, former chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party and a board member at MassINC.