North Carolina
Overview
In 2009, Governor Beverly Perdue, Supreme Court Chief Justice Sarah Parker, Senate President Marc Basnight, Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger, House Speaker Joe Hackney, and House Minority Leader Paul Stam requested technical assistance from the Council of State Governments Justice Center (“CSG Justice Center”) to help develop a statewide policy framework to reduce spending on corrections and reinvest in strategies to increase public safety.
From 2000 to 2008, North Carolina’s prison population increased 25 percent from 31,581 to 39,326 individuals. During that same period, the Department of Correction (DOC) budget increased 43 percent, from $918 million to more than $1.31 billion. If existing policies remain unchanged, the Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission projects that the prison population will increase by 25 percent, or 10,000 inmates, between 2009 and 2019. The existing prison capacity is about 39,000 beds and the DOC estimates that it will face a shortfall of about 8,500 beds by FY 2019. Building and operating these new prison beds will cost more than $2 billion between FY 2012 and FY 2019. Construction costs alone will approach $775 million between FY 2012 and FY 2019, with one third of this investment needed by FY 2012.
| June 23, 2011: Governor Beverly Perdue signs the Justice Reinvestment Act (House Bill 642). |
The Justice Reinvestment Initiative will provide North Carolina policymakers with in-depth analyses of criminal justice data to determine why the prison population is increasing and where opportunities exist to increase public safety. To incorporate perspectives and recommendations from across the criminal justice system, the CSG Justice Center will engage stakeholders through focus groups, site visits, and personal interviews.
To guide the CSG Justice Center’s analyses of the state’s criminal justice system and development of policy options, the state has established a work group. Members of the work group represent both parties and all three branches of state government, including the two chambers of the General Assembly. The work group will review data analyses from the CSG Justice Center and develop a legislative package to address the projected growth in North Carolina’s prison population, generate savings, and reinvest in strategies to increase public safety.