New website: www.prisonwarehouse.com
Press Release
Announcing the opening of a new web site dedicated to truthfully informing the hard working citizens of the state of Virginia about how their tax dollars are being wasted by their representatives with warehousing of prisoners.
This site digs deeply into the Prison Warehousing problems and the problens with "New Law" and "Old Law" policies.
We ask that you visit the web site and give it the widest distribution possible.
Prisonwarehouse.com
This is a web site dedicated to truthfully informing the hard working citizens of the state of Virginia about how their tax dollars are being wasted by their representatives with warehousing of prisoners. The "tough on crime" trend politicians have pushed at the general public for the last two decades has assisted them in getting unnecessary legislation passed into law and in the process, have overwhelmed the budget to the point of near collapse. The "tough on crime" approach has not deterred crimes from
being committed. There are two major factors that contribute to crime rates rising in recent years: 1) The failing of the economy, which produce new criminals, and 2) The continuing and growing drug problem, where addicts are committing crimes to feed their habits. The practice of building high tech multi-million dollar prisons in rural areas are not going to lower the crime rates; or locking up those in need of help with their drug problems
and mental disabilities to provide jobs to improve the nemployment rates in these rural areas won't do it either. All this does is create the systemic problem of overcrowding and great budgetary deficits that cause more harm than good. The abolition of the parole with the nationwide push for truth in sentencing has done only one thing since being adopted, cost the taxpayers
crucial dollars that could have been spent on education and MediCare, or on preventative and rehabilitative programs to stem the tide of bodies now being warehoused in the unnecessary facilities that are draining the budget. Because these concerns were not addressed early on due to the "punish them" mentality, this has led to recidivism rates being so high. The same people going in are now coming out because of funding being cut
for rehabilitative programs within prisons. Prisoners are now being
warehoused until they are released; in worse shape than they were when they came in. You as taxpayers, pay your taxes to be safe; but also to have those returning to your neighborhoods reformed in the effort to have decent individuals living next to you upon their release. This is not happening. It is obvious that something is broken.
It is a sad state of affairs when your children can't go to school due to high temperatures, but multi-million dollar climate controlled facilities are going up so fast they can't hire the guards to work these facilities due to the budgetary deficit of three plus billion dollars. Your tax dollars are funding the construction of these facilities instead of being funneled into the Virginia school system to prevent our children from coming to prison in the first place. This cycle will continue until you say "no more! - enough is enough!" But more importantly, are moved to action.
I urge you to visit Prisonwarehouse.com and learn more about the issues raised in this flier, and more than that call for the total overhaul of the current VADOC and their policies that continuously waste needed tax dollars on the practice of prisoner warehousing. I urge you to contact your legislators and representatives to voice your concerns as well. This can be
done by visiting http://PrisonWarehouse.com and reading the "How to Help" section of the web site. The fact remains, something must be done, and soon. No matter who you are, you count and your voice must be heard. The spending of your tax dollar concerning public safety is a hot issue not only in Virginia, but nation wide. If you are going to be paying for it, you might as well have a voice in how your tax dollars are being spent.
Virginia prison/prisoner Expenditures (as of 2008)
* DOC state correctional facilities have 33,500 incarcerated to date.
* 5,360 offenders are held in county jails
* From FY 1998 to 2010, state general fund appropriations for adult corrections will have increased almost 88% (for an
average annual rate of growth of 5.4% per year)
* Key spending drivers in DOC have included: Growth in the inmate population, including opening eight new major
prisons with over 10,000 beds; Increased inmate medical cost;
Increased salary and benefit costs, including a special
salary increase and enhanced retirement benefits for correctional
staff
Impact Budget Reduction
* DOC is the largest state agency in the FTE employment, with over 13,600 authorized positions, and a total budget
of $1.1 billion (from all funds) in Fiscal Year 2009
Statistical Source: James J. Stephen, BJS Statistician