5/28/08 Press Conf. with Cory Booker and others: New Report "Hidden Costs of Incarceration in NJ" Released

MEDIA ADVISORY: Tuesday May 27, 2008 Contact: Tony Newman, t: 646-335-5384 or Roseanne Scotti, t: 609-610-8243 Groundbreaking Report “Wasting Money, Wasting Lives: Calculating the Hidden Costs of Incarceration in New Jersey” to be Released Report Finds Incarceration Costs Far Exceed Previous Estimates, Increase State Budget Deficit and Waste Taxpayer Money Press Conference Scheduled at Statehouse on Wednesday, May 28, 11:30 AM with Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Assemblyman Joseph Cryan Trenton- A groundbreaking report, “Wasting Money, Wasting Lives: Calculating the Hidden Costs of Incarceration in New Jersey” will be released today at a statehouse press conference featuring legislators, community members and advocates. The report was commissioned by the Drug Policy Alliance and authored by Meredith Kleykamp, Jake Rosenfeld and Roseanne Scotti. What: A press conference to release a report on the hidden costs of incarceration in New Jersey Who: Newark Mayor Cory Booker Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D, Union) Roseanne Scotti, Esq., Director, Drug Policy Alliance New Jersey David Kerr, President, Integrity House of Newark (additional speakers to be announced) When: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 11:30 A.M. Where: New Jersey State House, Room 209 The economic cost of New Jersey’s explosive prison growth has been astronomical. Twenty years ago, the New Jersey corrections budget was $289 million. Today the budget is $1.33 billion. Corrections budget growth has outstripped all other parts of the state’s budget. From 1979 until 2006, the corrections budget grew by a factor of 13 while the overall state budget grew only by a factor of 6. New Jersey spends more than $46,000 annually to incarcerate each prisoner, and about $331 million dollars a year just on incarcerating all nonviolent drug law violators—more than what is spent by 16 other states for their entire corrections budgets. During the 1980s and 1990s, corrections spending in New Jersey rose at three times the rate of spending on higher education. But looking at the direct costs of incarceration tells only part of the story of the economic burden placed on New Jersey by the current system. In addition to the direct costs of prisons, New Jersey also incurs substantial indirect and hidden costs by incarcerating large numbers of nonviolent drug offenders. To get a complete understanding of the costs of incarceration for New Jersey, costs such as lost wages while incarcerated, lost lifetime wages after release from prison due to reduced employability, and lost taxable income must be calculated. This groundbreaking report analyzes the comprehensive and hidden costs of New Jersey’s overuse of incarceration and offers suggestions for saving taxpayers’ money and reinvesting savings into families and communities. # # #