Prison Spending Outpaces All but Medicaid

nytimes.com — One in every 31 adults, or 7.3 million Americans, is in prison, on parole or probation, at a cost to the states of $47 billion in 2008, according to a new study. Criminal correction spending is outpacing budget growth in education, transportation and public assistance, based on state and federal data. Only Medicaid spending grew faster than state corrections spending, which quadrupled in the past two decades, according to a report by the Pew Center on the States, the first breakdown of spending in confinement and supervision in the past seven years. As states face huge budget shortfalls, prisons, which hold 1.5 million adults, are driving the spending increases.

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