[Imc-cleveland] New Report--Ohio Prison Spending Grows Five Times Faster than Higher Education Spending

[Jason Ziedenberg]

Embargoed Until August 28th, 2002: For More information, call Amy Hanauer @
(216) 931.9922

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POLICY MATTERS OHIO

2912 EUCLID AVENUE   =80   CLEVELAND, OHIO, 44115   =80   TEL: 216/931-9922   =80
FAX: 216/931-9924  STAFF@POLICYMATTERSOHIO.ORG   =80
HTTP://WWW.POLICYMATTERSOHIO.ORG/

New Report: Ohio Prison Spending Grows Five Times Faster than Higher
Education Spending

More African American Men Incarcerated in Ohio Than Enrolled in College

Washington, DC and Cleveland, Ohio-A new report shows that during the 1980s
and 1990s, Ohio spending on corrections grew at five times the rate of stat=
e
spending on higher education.  By the close of the millennium, there were
more African American men in prison and jail in Ohio than in universities o=
r
colleges.

The report, Cellblocks or Classrooms? The Funding of Higher Education and
Corrections and Its Impact on African American Men, provides state by state
analysis of corrections and higher education spending, and is the latest in
a series of reports by the Justice Policy Institute to show the fiscal
impact of the nation=B9s overuse of prison as a solution to social problems.
Drawing upon data from the National Association of State Budget Officers,
Cellblocks or Classrooms? shows that as corrections expenditures have grown=
,
state spending on increases on higher education have not kept pace with
increased spending on prisons.

In Ohio, national surveys of state expenditure show that between 1985 and
2000, higher education spending increased by 38% or $670 million while
corrections spending skyrocketed by 211% or $1.026 billion. While Ohio
spending on higher education ($2.432 billion) exceeded what was spent on
corrections ($1.1512 billion) in 2000, over the last 15 years, spending on
prisons grew at 5.5 times the rate of higher education.

=B3This report shows that Ohio=B9s colleges and universities have lost budget
battles to the growing prison system,=B2 said  Amy Hanauer, executive directo=
r
of Policy Matters Ohio. =B3With harder economic times ahead, we must reduce
Ohio=B9s reliance on expensive prisons so that we can invest in the higher
education system that is so crucial to our economic well-being.=B2



_____________________________________________________________________
THE JUSTICE POLICY INSTITUTE
4455 CONNECTICUT, SUITE B-500 WASHINGTON, DC 20008, 202-545-6870
WWW.JUSTICEPOLICY.ORG
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POLICY MATTERS OHIO

The cost of attending college in Ohio is increasingly out of reach. Between
1992 and 2001 in Ohio, tuition increased by 32% at public four-year
institutions and by 26% at private four-year institutions.  New students
starting next week at Ohio State University will pay 19% more than new
students paid last fall. Tuition is increasing at a time when higher
education is more important. During the 1980s and 1990s, Ohio workers with
only a high school diploma saw their wages drop by 13.9%. Even workers with
1-3 years beyond high school experienced an 8.7 % wage decline during this
period. Only workers with a bachelor=B9s degree or more experienced wage
growth between 1979 and 2000.

The progress made in improving African American access to college has been
eclipsed by the growth of the nation=B9s African American male incarcerated
population. Cellblocks or Classrooms finds that in 1999/2000, there were
more African American men in prison in Ohio (23,000) than in the higher
education system (20,000), and the report estimates that 38 times as many
African American men were added to the states=B9 prison system as were added
to colleges during the last two decades, and in 2000. Nationally, Cellblock=
s
or Classrooms? estimates that in 2000, there were 791,600 African American
men in prison and jail, and 603,000 in higher education.

=B3People who attend college are positioned to become productive, taxpaying
citizens for years to come,=B2 said Reverend Marvin McMickle of Cleveland's
Antioch Baptist Church.  =B3Those who go to prison carry a felony status
forever, and have lifetime limits on their ability to go to college or get =
a
decent job. This is bad public policy based upon a lack of common sense.=B2

The report recommends that states choose new policies that would save money
and reduce incarceration, such as sentencing reform, parole reform and
treatment plus effective community supervision in lieu of imprisonment for
non-violent offenders.

A summary of the findings from Cellblocks or Classrooms for Ohio is being
released locally by Policy Matters Ohio www.policymattersohio.org, a
non-partisan, non-profit policy research institute with offices in Clevelan=
d
and Columbus, funded primarily by the George Gund Foundation. To obtain a
fact sheet with the principal Ohio findings, the media is invited review an
embargoed copy of the study, and summaries of the findings in the 10 larges=
t
states, at www.justicepolicy.org (User Name: coc, Password: 101). Cellblock=
s
or Classrooms is embargoed until 12:01 am on August 28, 2002.


The Justice Policy Institute, a project of the Tides Center, is a
Washington, DC-based think-tank that is committed to reducing society's
reliance on incarceration. The report was funded by the Criminal Justice
Initiative of the Open Society Institute. For more information on the
Justice Policy Institute, please visit our website at www.justicepolicy.org
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