Calif spends $52,363 per year to house an inmate in prison, and $7,440 per student grades K-12

[Kadie]

State spending on prison inmates outweighs spending on students in K-12
Suzanne Phan Last updated 8 hrs ago

SACRAMENTO, CA - What the state spends on the correctional system versus K-12 education may surprise you. It's a difference of nearly seven times.

In these difficult economic times, California has made deep cuts to its schools--nearly $18 billion dollars in two years. The state is also laying off 26,000 teachers this year. Meanwhile, California's prisons house more than 166,000 inmates. There's a federal court push to substantially reduce state prison overcrowding.

Right now, California spends $8.6 billion dollars, or 11 percent of its budget, on state prisons. The state spends, on average, $52,363 per year to house an inmate in prison according to the California Department of Corrections. That breaks down to $143 a day.

"These are the costs of guarding them, providing medical care to them, the cost for the facility," said H.D. Palmer, deputy director of finance for Gov. Schwarzenegger.

The state spent $7,440 per student this school year, according to Proposition 98 state funding. Education for K-12 is nearly $50 billion, or 35 percent of the state budget.

"I think they are going in the wrong direction," said Cassandra Nesler, parent of a first grade student at William Land Elementary School in Sacramento. "Just this last year, they've taken away the summer program which is really frustrating because he needs extra help."

more...
http://www.news10.net/news/story.aspx?storyid=80703&catid=2

[Romulox]

1. But a win in the Drug War is just. around. the. corner! nt

[ensho]

2. insanity - america so loves its children

nt

[drdtroit]

3. Corporate priorities! n/t

[barbtries]

4. where's the money going?

where's it really going? this is plain insane.

[Are_grits_groceries]

5. I've always said that

we could build prisons or schools. Looks like the prisons won.

[no limit]

6. I dont even make that much money in a year, and I live pretty well. I dont get it

how can they spend that much money per inmate? Absolutely insane.

[jpljr77]

7. Juxtaposition of the numbers in headline is clever, but disingenous

I can see that the writer here wanted to make an impact. But the total-per-year average is very misleading, as an inmate is draining resources 24/7/365, and a student is not. Same goes for the comparison to college costs at the bottom of the article.

To me, the most startling number is 11 percent. California spends 11 percent of its budget on state prisons. Amazing. I wonder how many were convicted of "soft" drug crimes, or are just simply wrongfully imprisoned? Shameful.

[no limit]

8. How in the hell does it cost over 50K to house an inmate? I dont make that much a year

and I live just fine. Yet I also have car payments, phone payments, entertainment, etc, etc, etc. This number makes no sense to me, something is seriously fucked up with that system.

[Jefferson23]

9. We give lip service to our children, $52, 000 to house prisoners, and

how much does the state spend on crime prevention programs? Can't have any of those, you might make sense!