Once again the Indiana General Assembly is in its long session to consider the bi-annual budget, and once again educational funding will be at issue. In years past, the funding for higher education has suffered as a result of a cancer in Indiana government.
That cancer is the Department of Correction.
While neighboring states are reducing their prison populations and closing prisons, Indiana continues to build new facilities and expand the current prisons. The reason for this is that in Indiana, prisons are businesses. Private contractors provide many of the services. These contractors are public stock corporations; stock shares are owned by criminal justice officials and their families.
Can Indiana reduce its prison population without endangering public safety? The answer is yes. There are essentially four types of prisoners: drug offenders, substance abusers, violent-monetary offenders and violent non-monetary offenders. As college students, we are able to understand the first two classifications. The last two may need an explanation.
A violent-monetary offender is someone who has committed an offense for monetary gain through the use of violence. A violent non-monetary offender is someone who has committed an act of violence but without motive of financial gain.
Biological research has found that violent non-monetary offenders, like substance abusers, can be treated. Elevated levels of testosterone and low levels of serotonin have been linked to aggressive behavior.
DOC employees would be opposed to treating prisoners because it would reduce the prison population, as this type of treatment has been proven to reduce recidivism rates of sex offenders from nearly 50 percent to around 5 percent. (This treatment is so successful that California requires it for all repeat child sex offenders.)
As informed students, we know that the way to reduce drug-related offenses is through legalization and strict regulation. This method has proven successful in reducing the use of tobacco among all age groups in the United States.
Thus, three of the four crime groups listed above can be effectively addressed without costly incarceration. To the best of my knowledge, there is no cure or treatment for greed, which controls the remaining groups of offenders.
For every year I am in prison, that is $30,000 that can not go for higher education. If only half of Indiana's prisoners were in the three classifications that can effectively be released from prison, the state would have an additional $300 million to spend on education.
Your tuition fees increased this year because the DOC continues to require more state budget dollars to operate. It is time for your to contact your legislators and request that something be done about the growing prison population when alternatives do exist.
The General Assembly will listen if enough people speak up; by speaking up, you will be helping to make our state safer for everyone, now and in the future.
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