Impacts of Private Prison Contracting on Inmate Time Served and Recidivism

This paper examines the impact of private prison contracting by exploiting staggered prison capacity shocks in Mississippi. Motivated by a model based on the typical private prison contract that pays a per diem for each occupied bed, the empirical analysis shows that private prison inmates serve 90 additional days. This is alternatively estimated as 4.8 percent of the average sentence. The delayed release erodes half of the cost savings offered by private contracting and is linked to the greater likelihood of conduct violations in private prisons. The additional days served do not lead to apparent changes in inmate recidivism. (JEL H76, K42)

The highly reintegrative approach of electronic monitoring in the Netherlands

This contribution describes the way electronic monitoring (EM) is organized and implemented in the Netherlands. It will become clear that the situation in the Netherlands is characterized by, in particular, two features. The application of EM is highly interwoven with the Probation Service and its reintegrative objectives, a characteristic that dominates the organization and use of EM to a great extent. Paradoxically, EM is hardly used in the Netherlands as an autonomous (stand-alone) replacement for short prison sentences. The most straightforward explanation for this situation is that the Netherlands does not really need EM to replace prison capacity since its prison population already decreased drastically since 2005. A second explanation is that the intense involvement of the probation service in the enforcement of electronic monitoring has as a side-effect that these sanctions are not accepted as punitive sanctions, but fully framed into the rehabilitative perspective.

Learning from European Punishment Practices—and from Similar American Practices, Now and In the Past

American jurisdictions seeking to reduce their heavy reliance on prison sentences should emulate European practices, but they should also learn from practices already found in some American states, and in all states at earlier times in our history. European countries make much less use of custodial sentences by employing alternatives such as prosecutorial diversion, fines and day fines as the sole sanction, suspended custodial sentences, and community service or training orders imposed as conditions of probation. These European practices should not be dismissed on the assumption that they are “too foreign”; each of them is well-known in the United States, and their use may be more common than we imagine. If we had better data on these practices – which we should – jurisdictions that aren’t often using them could learn from those that are. There may also be uniquely American practices that help to explain why some states have been able to maintain consistently low prison rates, or to lower their formerly high rates. One such practice is the use of sentencing guidelines combined with parole abolition, developed and monitored by an adequately funded independent sentencing commission, and matching prison use with available prison capacity. Finally, we should learn from our collective past; the United States has not always had extremely high “mass incarceration” rates, nor has it always had rates much higher than those in Europe. Americans should not accept, as the new normal, prison rates five times higher than those that prevailed for fifty years prior to the mid-1970s.

Secondary mental healthcare in prisons in England and Wales: results of a postal questionnaire

Aims and methodPrison mental health inreach teams (PMHITs) were introduced in response to policy from 2003. This provision comes under the responsibility of the National Health Service. Service development and structure was not defined in policy. A total of 97 prisons of an estimated 100 known to have a PMHIT were targeted by postal questionnaire and responses covered 62 prisons. Team structures were captured in the data with specific regard to the number of available professional sessions.ResultsFindings determine there is generally no correlation between input and prison capacity, although there was some evidence of correlation in the high secure (category A) estate and that the female estate was generally better served.Clinical implicationsIt is evident from this study that PMHITs have evolved piecemeal, with no clear standards or equity across the estate. This is of concern.

Mandatory Minimum Sentencing in Florida: Past Trends and Future Implications

Early release programs in Florida have resulted in significant decreases in the percentage of sentences served. Mandatory minimum sentences are increasingly being imposed by the courts to ensure that a major portion of prison sentences are served. However, the long-term impact of these sentences has not been fully anticipated. This study presents the relative effect mandatory minimum sentences have on the length and cost of imprisonment along with their accumulative effect on prison capacity needs. A forecast of the number of inmates under mandatory minimum sentences to the year 2000 displays dramatically the consequences these sentencing options produce.