Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/SarahLawrence

This policy brief provides an introduction to benefit-cost analysis and how it can assist policymakers and corrections officials in determining whether investing in supermax security facilities constitutes an appropriate and effective allocation of resources. The brief provides examples of practical applications of benefit-cost analysis, introduces the logic of this analytic tool, describes the specific steps involved in conducting a benefit-cost analysis, and then shows how these steps apply to supermax prisons. The brief emphasizes the critical role that informed judgments and assumptions play, along with empirical research, in affecting the results of benefit-cost analyses.

In recent decades, growth in the number of people in U.S. prisons has been the largest in history-the prison population increased by more than one million between 1980 and 2000. To accommodate this growth, corrections officials have pursued a variety of strategies, including greatly expanding the network of prisons. Despite this tremendous growth, the prison construction boom has received relatively little attention. This report contributes to the limited knowledge base by developing an empirical understanding of the geographic locations of prison facilities-and therefore prisoners-following this record-level expansion over the past two decades. Prison expansion is examined from national, state, and county-level perspectives, and in terms of the extent to which prisons were located in "metro" counties or "non-metro" counties. This report focuses on 10 states that experienced the largest growth in the number of prisons during the 1980s and 1990s. Several themes emerge from the analyses presented in this report. First is the pervasiveness of prison growth. A second theme to emerge is that in a select number of smaller communities, prison expansion has significantly impacted the total population. A third theme of this report is the mismatch between the places prisoners consider home and the places prisoners serve their time. [View corresponding press release.]

Parole has undergone significant changes over the past generation. Far fewer prisoners are released by parole boards. Far more released prisoners are supervised after they leave prison. The number of parole revocations has increased dramatically. Yet these national trends mask substantial variations at the state level. Some states have abolished parole boards. Some have increased, others have decreased, the use of parole supervision. In some states, parole violators constitute more than one half of their prison admissions. These profound shifts at the national and state level raise basic questions about the role of parole in American sentencing policy. [View corresponding press release]

This report describes the results of the Urban Institute's process evaluation of the Community Orientation and Reintegration (COR) program, a comprehensive reentry program designed and delivered by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. The findings herein were drawn from a literature review of research on reentry programs and related efforts; a review of the COR curriculum and other documents pertaining to the program; the development of a logic model of COR; a series of focus groups conducted with staff and inmates involved in COR; and a survey administered to Phase I and Phase II participants.

[Copyright: California Journal, August 2002.] Over the past 25 years, the per capita rate of incarceration in America has increased four-fold. More than 2 million individuals are now locked up in prison or jail. The increase has taken on a unique twist in California, particularly in regard to its parole policy. Unlike many other states, nearly every prisoner released in California is placed on parole, and studies indicate the state has an especially tough policy on parole violators. As a result, California is now the national leader in returning parolees to prison and its return rate has increased 30 times between 1980 and 2000.

This report includes a literature review on the effectiveness of educational, vocational, and work programs in prison on employment outcomes and recidivism, and it includes an inventory of prison programs in seven states from the Great Lakes region. The report also makes recommendations for strategic opportunities and identifies policy targets for increasing and enhancing prison-based programming.

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