- Date
- August 28, 2003
As U.S. states struggle to close budget gaps and continue funding various kinds of high quality education, the costs of paying for a $150 billion justice system—nearly $50 billion of which is corrections—takes on a heightened significance.
According to Education & Incarceration, while some states are implementing or considering cuts in corrections spending this year, the majority are choosing to maintain large incarcerated populations—and are continuing to pay the fiscal and social costs associated with having the largest prison system in the world.
The report concludes that the financial costs of prisons obscures the massive social costs these policy choices have in specific communities.
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