Because 90% of all prisoners in the United States are in state facilities, the work that states are doing to reduce their prison populations is crucial. Attempting to end mass incarceration necessitates realizing this is a situation requiring not one national solution, but fifty state solutions. Below are current state solutions that could be effectively modeled by other states for meaningful reform.
"When it comes to pretrial release, Americans are presumed innocent until proven guilty and the bottom line is that Alaska’s policy now ensures that release decisions are based on public safety, not ability to pay. It is a judge, not an algorithm, who makes the ultimate decision. The research is clear: paying money to a bail bondsman does not reduce risk of re-arrest."
Juneau Empire
August 6, 2018
Read More"Although SB 91 has had its share of critics, it is important to remember why lawmakers overwhelmingly decided that Alaska's system had lost its shine back in July 2016. First, the system was not accomplishing its mission, as 63 percent of those who left prison in Alaska in 2011 returned within three years. Also, the exploding costs associated with a prison population that had grown 27 percent from 2006 to 2016, left the state with a smaller budget for other priorities like education and health care. Without SB 91, the prison population would have surged another 27 percent. "
Alaska Daily News
July 16, 2018
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