Cutting Corrections Costs: Earned Time Policies for State Prisoners

Cutting Corrections Costs: Earned Time Policies for State Prisoners
National Conference of State Legislatures

This report is prepared under a partnership project of NCSL’s Criminal Justice Program in Denver, Colorado and the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States, based in Washington, D.C. The NCSL project is designed to help states tap the best research and information available to put a fiscal lens to sentencing and corrections policy options and reforms.

The Conclusion of the Report reads as follows:

States are creating and expanding earned time programs that reduce the length of stay for certain offenders while maintaining public safety. Among policies that states use to reserve prison beds for the most dangerous offenders, earned time also creates an incentive for motivated offenders to work, take part in rehabilitation, and otherwise prepare to be successful in the community. Earned time is helping states reduce the corrections budget burden and allows funds saved to be invested in programs that reduce recidivism and help build safe communities.

http://www.ncsl.org/documents/cj/Earned_time_report.pdf