California State Prisons Face Overcrowding Issues
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The Alabama Legislature has passed a budget that creates tough reductions in Medicaid services but allows for the building of 4 new prisons. If that isn't concerning to you, keep reading.

According to the Alabama Department of Corrections, as of January 2016, the designed capacity for Alabama's prisons combined was 13,318. However, the end of the month population was 24,335, an occupancy rate of 182.7%. This is not quite but ALMOST double the current capacity of Alabama prisons.

Governor Bentley's proposal calls for consolidation with the closing of 13 of the state's 15 major men's facilities and the closing of Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women. Three of the new prisons will be for men with the fourth for women. The plan calls for adding about 3,000 beds to the design capacity. This would bring the occupancy rate to 149% based on current numbers. However, Gov. Bentley plans for new sentencing laws to help aid in getting that rate down to 125%. So, you spend $800 million to alleviate overcrowding and aging facilities, but the overcrowding issue still exists! It's still too many people for the number the building is built to hold.

Meanwhile, our lower income populations have decreased medical coverage? The possibility of eliminating prescription drug coverage would only increase the prison population again as those needing certain prescriptions will either turn to forms of self-medicating or alternative methods of getting the medicines they need, as the lower income populations are the ones keeping the prison doors open anyway.

Is there a problem with prison overcrowding in Alabama? Undoubtedly. Are current facilities inhumane? Quite possibly. Would building new prisons while closing and consolidating others help the budget in the long run? Probably, but it won't if it comes at the expense of healthcare. That just doesn't make good fiscal sense.

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