Maryland’s Incarceration Rates Continue to Drop

At a recent meeting of the Justice Reinvestment Oversight Board a representative from the GOCCP updated the Oversight Board on state prison data noting a persisting decrease in the state’s prison population.

As reported by The Baltimore Sun not only are incarceration rates down in the prisons, they are down in the local jails as well (with the exception of Montgomery County):

From October 2017 through the end of last month, the number of people locked up in Maryland’s prisons fell an additional 1.3 percent, continuing a multiyear drop.

According to data presented Thursday at the Maryland Justice Reinvestment Oversight Board, 18,998 people were incarcerated by the state June 30, down from 19,242 in the fall.

Incarceration rates at local jails run by counties across the state are also decreasing, said Angelina Guarino, director of justice reinvestment for the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention.

Falling incarceration rates means more money for the state under reforms made by the Justice Reinvestment Act. As noted in the article, savings from the reduced prison population will be used for grants to support criminal justice reform efforts. The Department of Legislative Services projected $2.2 million in grants in 2019 from savings when the bill first passed in 2016. However, the Oversight Board believes it will take years to generate enough savings for those grants.

The 25 member Justice Reinvestment Oversight Board, chaired by Judge Daniel M. Long, is charged with overseeing the implementation of the Justice Reinvestment Act (SB 1005), the law passed during the 2016 outlining comprehensive state criminal justice reform. Duties include collecting and analyzing data, creating performance measures, and making recommendations for reinvestment of savings. The board meets quarterly.

Read The Baltimore Sun to learn more.

Related coverage from Conduit Street: Maryland Sees Greatest Incarceration Drop in Nation

Incarceration rates in local jails may be falling, but the work they are doing to improve the skills of their inmates for reentry into local communities continues to grow more robust. Learn how correctional training and environmental programs intersect to build marketable job skills and improve communities in the process at the MACo Summer Conference session “Green is the New Black” scheduled for 2:15 pm – 3:15 pm, Friday, August 17, 2018.

The 2018 MACo Summer Conference will be held August 15-18 at the Roland Powell Convention Center in Ocean City, Maryland. This year’s theme is “Water, Water Everywhere.”

Learn more about MACo’s Summer Conference: