How Indiana's prison reform hurt rural counties - Entrepreneur Generations

Then-Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana signed a criminal reform bill in 2015 meant to, among other things, reduce the state's prison population by housing low-level felons in county jails. That shifted the financial burden from the state to counties, most of which are rural and ill-equipped to house more prisoners. The problem was compounded when the state's prison population soon rebounded and surpassed pre-reform levels. More people are being sent to prison than ever, and serving longer sentences.

"To ease the jail overcrowding precipitated by the bill, many counties are expanding their jails or constructing new ones, the costs of which are borne by taxpayers in Indiana, Oliver Hinds and Jack Norton report for the Vera Institute of Justice. "In the past two years, the state legislature has approved laws for several counties allowing them to raise income taxes to pay for jail expansion; this, in a state where rural counties are struggling with poverty, drug addiction, and rising HIV rates resulting from cuts to health care and social services."

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2QTZrqc How Indiana's prison reform hurt rural counties - Entrepreneur Generations

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