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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Report: Florida Bucks Trend of Declining Prison Population

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Friday, March 19, 2010   

TALAHASSEE, Fla. - A yearly tally of state prison populations shows that, nationwide, numbers are lower than the previous year for the first time since 1972 - but not in Florida. The number of inmates in state prisons at the beginning of this year was 0.4 percent lower nationally than in 2009; about 5,000 less for a total of around 1.4 million. But, with an increase of 1,500 prisoners, Florida was second only to Pennsylvania in the increased number of people behind bars.

Adam Gelb, director of the Public Safety Performance Project for the Pew Center on the States, which issued the report, says the statistics demonstrate a shift in thinking has occurred within many states on managing public safety.

"There was an old way of approaching this issue; 'how do I demonstrate that I'm tough on crime?' But now, more and more policymakers are asking a better question; 'how do I get taxpayers a better public safety return for their dollars?'"

The tendency is to believe incarcerating more people is an indication a state is experiencing a lot of crime, says Gelb, while other factors are involved.

"Prison populations and how much we pay for prisons is not something that is just determined by crime rates and demographic trends. It really is significantly a function of the decisions that are made by legislators, governors, parole boards and the courts about who they send to prison and for how long."

Some states with the greatest prison population declines released inmates under under new parole programs to save money, while others attempted new approaches such as treatment centers for drug offenders, early parole for non-violent inmates, and reduced sentences for juvenile offenders. Florida Tax Watch says implementing these efforts here could save the state an estimated $450 million over the next two years.

More than 100,000 inmates are serving time in Florida's prisons, and studies show more than a quarter of those released each year are back behind bars within three years. The study recommends investing more money in rehabilitation to reverse that trend.

The full report is at www.pewtrusts.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=57795.







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