Incarceration vs. education: A stacked Deck

Evergreen State College $2,000,000 - Prisons $800,000,000

We the undersigned, object to cuts in our educational budget when no money at all was taken from the budget for correctional operations. Based upon the facts which follow we believe correctional reforms should be pursued. And the savings made on this should be used for educational purposes.

There are a total of 17 prisons in our state and fourteen of these were brought on line since 1980. The prison population now stands at 15,000. And the rise in our correctional budget makes it one of the highest in Washington State at close to one billion dollars.

In spite of all this, our approach to crime and punishment served no purpose over the last 20 years. Aside from temporary declines which never last there has been no permanent decrease in our crime rate during this time. And a record of this sort requires us to review alternatives. Rather than spending money to lock up more people, without offering them any rehabilitative services, prevention of crime should include increased spending on education in our state.

In our view there's a priority here which is being over looked. All of us feel our current approach is misguided. And urge you to set us on a better course by pursuing these matters in a different way and shifting money from prisons to education.

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