To keep the state afloat in treacherous economic seas, Arizona has already dumped significant public programs and services overboard. But even while battered by a $2.6 billion budget deficit, we must not sacrifice public safety to the wind and the waves. According to the CQ Press Crime State Rankings 2010, Arizona is the ninth-most-dangerous state to live in. Changing this should be a top priority.
One of the best ways we can guard our safety without plunging deeper into debt is to make sure the more than 20,000 men and women released from Arizona's prisons each year are prepared to become productive citizens and not repeat offenders. Today, nearly half of these men and women are returning to prison within three years.
Released prisoners' track record of failure not only feeds the crime rate but also exacerbates the state's financial woes. Arizona spent 10 percent of its general funds on corrections last fiscal year, and currently has a corrections budget of $924 million. It costs more than $20,000 per year to house a prisoner in Arizona. As the Arizona inmate population climbs past 40,000 people, we must break the cycle of men and women going in and out of costly prison cells.
Arizona already has taken initiative to keep released prisoners out of trouble. In 2008, the state passed legislation that targeted resources on the most serious offenders under community supervision to ensure these individuals were following the rules. These reforms help keep the public safer, save dollars, and lower parole-revocation rates.
These policy changes are steps in the right direction, but incentives and increased supervision take us only so far. That's because recently released prisoners frequently are overwhelmed by the torrent of challenges they face once they leave prison.
To succeed on the outside, they need employment, housing, transportation, education and medical services, to name a few. Inmates must also have access to the mentoring and accountability that come from strong relationships in a supportive community. This is why faith-based and non-profit groups must be an integral part of helping these men and women make a successful transition home. And this is why Arizona's Department of Corrections joined with Prison Fellowship to sponsor the Out4Life Arizona Conference in Phoenix last week.
Out4Life is a holistic approach to prisoner re-entry that partners community groups and government agencies to form the lifeline of support that offenders need. More than 250 individuals representing about 90 organizations (including about 20 state and federal agencies, 30 community-service agencies and 30 diverse religious, educational, and advocacy organizations) attended the conference.
Many of these groups will join together to form neighborhood coalitions in key urban areas across the state to provide services to ex-prisoners and to share information about re-entry best practices. And some coalitions will focus on rural areas, where there are even greater challenges to find resources for ex-prisoners. Participants also agreed to work together to advocate for sound public policy and legislative reforms to remove unnecessary barriers to successful re-entry.
This is the kind of cooperation between community and government organizations that Arizona needs to tackle recidivism and ex-prisoner re-entry. Not only can we make Arizona a safer place to live, we can also help the state navigate these troubled fiscal waters. Perhaps most importantly, however, we will also see thousands of men and women break free of the cycle of crime and prison to become productive members of our society.
Mark Earley is president of Prison Fellowship and a former attorney general of Virginia. William Anderson is Prison Fellowship's executive director for Arizona. If you or your organization want to become part of the solution to prisoner re-entry in your community, find out more about Out4Life at www.Out4Life.com.