[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 169 (Monday, November 16, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11384-S11385]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WHITEHOUSE (for himself, Mr. Cornyn, and Mr. Leahy):
  S. 2772. A bill to establish a criminal justice reinvestment grant 
program to help States and local jurisdictions reduce spending on 
corrections, control growth in the prison and jail populations, and 
increase public safety; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I am proud today to join Senators 
Cornyn and Leahy in introducing the Criminal Justice Reinvestment Act 
of 2009, a bill designed to help States and localities approach 
spending on corrections in a more rational manner, better manage growth 
in the prison and jail populations, and increase public safety.
  Over 2,200,000 American adults are incarcerated in state and local 
prisons and jails; the prison population alone nearly tripled between 
1987 and 2007, from 585,000 to almost 1,600,000 inmates. States, in 
turn, have increased spending on corrections by $40 billion in the past 
20 years. Despite the continued growth of the inmate population, about 
half the states plan to cut corrections budgets for fiscal year 2010 
amid budget shortfalls.
  Most policymakers have limited access to detailed, data-driven 
explanations about changes in crime, arrests, convictions, and prison 
and jail population trends. The Criminal Justice Reinvestment Act will 
provide them with the resources to undergo a thorough analysis of the 
drivers of growth, and to create and implement policy options to manage 
that growth.
  Specifically, the legislation will create a two-part grant program 
for governments to analyze criminal justice trends, develop policy 
options to address growth in the corrections system, and implement and 
measure the impact of the policy changes. Through Phase 1 grants, 
government entities will be able to conduct a comprehensive analysis of 
corrections data, evaluate the cost-effectiveness of state and local 
spending on corrections, and develop policy options suggested by the 
analysis. Phase 2 grants will provide funds to help government entities 
implement those policy options and to measure their effectiveness.
  Model programs in several states have already found this kind of data 
study helpful in managing the costs of a growing inmate population. An 
analysis of prison data in my home state of Rhode Island, for example, 
prompted legislation to standardize the calculation of earned time 
credits, establish risk reduction program credits, and require the use 
of risk assessments to inform parole release decisions. In Texas, the 
home State of one of my cosponsors, Senator Cornyn, the solution was 
much different but equally effective--following its analysis, the State 
invested $227 million on treatment programs and residential facilities 
to curb population growth, which averted spending $523 million on new 
prisons.
  The Criminal Justice Reinvestment Act will help state and local 
governments spend their limited corrections budgets in a more targeted, 
rational way to both manage inmate population growth and protect public 
safety. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am pleased to join Senators Whitehouse 
and Cornyn in introducing the Criminal Justice Reinvestment Act of 
2009. This important bipartisan legislation would help jurisdictions 
control the increased costs facing correctional systems across the 
country, while also improving public safety and reducing recidivism.
  In recent years, Federal and State governments have passed many new 
criminal laws creating more and longer sentences for more and more 
crimes. As a former prosecutor, I strongly believe in securing tough 
and appropriate prison sentences for people who break our laws. But 
while it is important to ensure that serious crimes result in 
significant sentences, we must also work to make our criminal justice 
system as effective and efficient as possible. That is why I have long 
championed legislation like the Second Chance Act, which helps ensure 
that when people get out of prison, they enter our communities as 
productive members of society, so we can start to reverse the dangerous 
cycles of recidivism and violence.

[[Page S11385]]

  We have an obligation to help states cope with overburdened criminal 
justice systems and rising recidivism rates. Over the last twenty 
years, state spending on corrections has risen from $10 billion to $45 
billion a year by some reports, and that number is expected to rise. 
Despite mounting expenditures, recidivism rates remain high, and by 
some measures have actually worsened. The fastest growing category of 
admissions to prison is people already under some form of community 
supervision, such as probation or parole. We must learn how to break 
this cycle. Fixing this problem will make our communities safer, and we 
must act quickly because states simply cannot continue to spend these 
enormous sums on corrections, especially in these very difficult 
economic times.
  The Criminal Justice Reinvestment Act provides states with the needed 
technical and financial resources to help them take key steps to break 
the cycle of recidivism. By helping states implement data-driven 
strategies to more effectively manage their correctional systems and to 
reinvest the saving in programs to reduce crime, the bill serves the 
dual purpose of cutting costs and improving public safety. I look 
forward to working with Senators Whitehouse and Cornyn and others to 
ensure the passage of this important legislation.
                                 ______