Wagner says stop building prisons
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – State Auditor General Jack Wagner says it’s time for Pennsylvania to stop building new prisons and step up the use of electronic monitoring, prerelease centers and other alternative for nonviolent criminals.
Wagner made his comments Thursday at a news conference where he made a pitch for changes previously proposed by the administration of former Gov. Ed Rendell and state Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, the Judiciary Committee chairman and advocate of prison reform.
Wagner says new prison construction should stop after completion of the four new prisons that have been authorized.
He said the prison population has increased from barely 8,000 inmates in 1980 to more than 51,000 now. The average cost of keeping one prisoner locked up, meanwhile, has nearly tripled from $11,000 a year to $32,000.
The Associated Press
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