“It costs about $41,000 to incarcerate an offender per year in the state prison system. We need to make sure that we are spending these taxpayer dollars on those offenders who require that level of incarceration and not wasting money that could be used for education or job creation, which will both ultimately keep more people out of prison.”
Wetzel thanked the governor for continuing to support his reform efforts, which over a two-year span, have reduced the prison population by 1,598.
“For years, we have said that offenders require treatment more so than a lengthy, expensive stay in the state prison system. Finally, offenders are getting the treatment they need at a more-appropriate level of the criminal justice system,” he said. “This ensures appropriate treatment and saves the expensive state prison space for the more violent offenders—those that truly should be separated from society.”
Wetzel concedes that some of the reduction is due to diverting short-term misdemeanor offenders—with sentences of a year or less—to county jails and group facilities. But as he told the Courier in a 2014 meeting, returning these offenders to their “home” facilities leads to better outcomes and lower recidivism because they are closer to family and support mechanisms.
With these efforts showing increasing success, the DOC has announced a funding solicitation totaling $1.5 million for county government candidates to divert “short min” inmates—those whose minimum sentence dates are one year or less from their admission date to the DOC—from state incarceration.
As good as that news is, Wolf is not resting on his laurels. On Feb. 16, he signed the Criminal History Sealing Expansion Bill into law, which is designed to further reduce recidivism, relieve the pardon system, and provide ex-offenders greater opportunity to join the workforce by giving ex-offenders a clean slate.
“This law is a commonsense, positive and unprecedented step to help Pennsylvanians with minor or dated criminal records have a fighting chance at opportunities for gainful employment,” he said.
“Too many first-time and low-level offenders are serving their time and unable to improve their lives after leaving the system because they have a criminal record. And, they are too likely then to return to the system. We must do everything we can to break this cycle; it is robbing too many of their lives and it is costing taxpayers far too much.”
The law amends the criminal code to allow individuals who have served their punishment and remained free of arrest or prosecution for seven to ten years, for nonviolent misdemeanors, to petition the court for their record to be sealed from public view.
Currently, 27 states allow some misdemeanor and even felony convictions to be expunged or sealed. Though the newly signed law allows certain criminal records to be sealed, law enforcement and state licensing agencies can still access those records they will no longer be an impediment for employment or housing.
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