Treatment Instead of Prison – It's a No-Brainer

    Sometimes you really get to have it all.  You get to do the right thing, the humane thing, and save money at same time.  The "treatment instead of prison" program, which is being promoted by the Wisconsin Council of Churches, by WISDOM, and locally by ESTHER (WISDOM's local affiliate) is such a case.  According to a careful and thorough health impact assessment conducted by Human Impact Partners together with WISDOM, expanding Wisconsin's treatment alternative diversion (TAD) programs to make them statewide will very likely reduce crime, strengthen Wisconsin's communities and families and improve public health while at the same time saving our state a lot of money in public safety, health care and social services.

    This sounds much too good to be true, but it isn't, and we all need to understand why.  Today our state incarcerates a very large number of nonviolent offenders including drug offenders and drunk drivers.  It costs about $32,000 per year to incarcerate someone but it only costs about $7551 per year to put a person in a TAD program.  Pilot TAD programs have been running for some time now in seven Wisconsin counties, and we can look at the results.

    It turns out that TAD programs are not only cheaper than incarceration, they are also more effective.  People who complete TAD programs are much less likely to commit crimes later than people who have been to prison. TAD program graduates are less likely to go to jail and less likely to go to prison after completing those programs that are people who have been to prison.  The Wisconsin office of Justice Assistance estimates that every dollar spent on TAD programs saves two dollars in criminal justice costs alone.  WISDOM and the Wisconsin Council of Churches are recommending that our state increase funding for TAD programs to $75 million a year, which would yield savings of $150 million a year. That is not all.  Since graduates of TAD programs are less likely to commit crimes then are former prisoners, fewer crimes would be committed if we put more people in TAD programs.  So our communities would be safer places. 

    How can we not support something that will keep people out of prison, make our communities safer places and save us money at the same time?  But don't take my word for it.  Read the health impact assessment report yourself.  You can find it at http://prayforjusticeinwi.org/.  You can also learn more about the Treatment Instead of Prison program at the ESTHER's website which is http://esther-foxvalley.org/.  If you're as excited about this as I am, you might even want to join ESTHER and help to promote Treatment Instead of Prison.