Some felons who have earned early release from prison are getting a few months of subsidized rent from Washington taxpayers, a new cost-cutting move expected to save the state $1.5 million by reducing the prison population.
The voucher program was approved earlier this year by the state Legislature, which needed to fix a roughly $9 billion state budget deficit. Before the program was in place, some inmates who had earned early release still couldn’t be let out of prison because they had no place to live.
By paying rent directly to an early-release felon’s landlord, the state avoids the higher costs of keeping those convicts behind bars. Inmates released under the voucher program are eligible for rent subsidies of up to $500 a month for three months – thousands of dollars less than the state would spend caring for them behind bars.
I bet it’s cheaper to house them for free outside the prison than inside.
Well, if I read this before forming an opinion, I would have found that this was addressed in the story. /bonks self.
I like it. Not just for the cost savings, but because it provides three months of transition time for the newly-released, which gives him or her a chance to get going on a different road. If you land outside with no place to live and nowhere to go, it’s going to be harder to live up to the promises you made to yourself on the Inside, because you’re going to be desperate. Desperate people do stupid things and go back to prison. Three months is enough time to build good habits, get a job, and start to become a productive member of society.
How awesome would it be if each released person arrived at their new apartment to find a laundry basket filled with toiletries and cleaning supplies and a note of encouragement from a local church?