Session 2003 Budget and Taxes Environment Higher Education K-12 Education Health and Welfare Public Safety Stadium Transportation Audio Daniel Storkamp, with the Department of Corrections, says tougher sentencing guidelines, higher rates of drunk driving convictions and a poor economy are contributing to the increased prison population. Daniel Storkamp, with the Corrections Department, says the department needs a budget increase of 55-million dollars to cover the cost of an additional 1,200 prison beds by 2005. Your Voice Join the conversation with other MPR listeners in the News Forum.

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State will run out of prison space by July, lawmakers told
January 8, 2003

St. Paul, Minn. — (AP) - The state's prison population is rising unexpectedly fast and Minnesota will run out of prison beds as soon as July.

Department of Corrections officials told lawmakers on a Senate budget panel that new projections have the state's prisoner population increasing so sharply the state could fill two new prisons by 2010.

There were 6,864 prisoners in an average month in 2002, and that's expected to reach 8,201 by 2005, an increase that would cost the state an additional $55 million to house. By 2010, it will reach 9,500.

No new prisons are planned - there wouldn't be time to build them now, officials said - so the department instead expects to meet the demand by possibly renting beds from other states, adding new beds to existing prisons and perhaps having prisoners sentenced to less than a year serve their time in county jails.

The increase is due to a variety of factors, said Daniel Storkamp, assistant commissioner in the department's Management Services Division. They range from a get-tough trend toward increased sentences for many crimes to the creation of several new felony-level crimes, including a new drunk driving law that took effect Aug. 1.

The poor economy also contributes, said Dennis Benson, the deputy commissioner. And he notes that the state's prison population increases along with the state's overall population.

But the new projections were a shock, he said, because the department estimated low by about 5 percent last year. "We saw a dramatic spike in population growth," he said. "That surprised us all."

He said the state pays a relatively high cost per inmate, but has the second-lowest overall cost when compared to the state's population.

For example Wisconsin, with a slightly larger population, pays about $1 billion to house up to 25,000 prisoners, while Minnesota pays $400 million to house about 7,000.

Last week, when Gov. Tim Pawlenty named Joan Fabian as commissioner of the department, he said the agency could expect budget cuts just like every other area of the budget.

He said while he won't consider releasing prisoners to save money - Kentucky recently did so - he would consider whether those who commit nonviolent crimes such as property or drug crimes could be dealt with in boot camps or other less costly programs.

But Benson said the state already deals with nonviolent criminals efficiently.

"The people that come to our prison beds for the most part need to be there," he said.

Legal changes fuel part of the growth.

In the case of the new DWI felony law, which makes a fourth DWI a felony after three prior convictions within 10 years, prison sentences so far are longer than the department estimated. The law will cost the state $13 million per year if only 15 percent of those prosecuted end up in prison. If that rate rises to 60 percent, it will cost $37 million per year.

In another example, the state in 1989 changed what constitutes a life sentence. Those sentenced since 1989 must serve at least 30 years instead of 17 years. When the population of prisoners sentenced after the change hits in 2008, the state will require an additional 300 beds per year to handle them, Storkamp said.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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