Rolling back criminal justice reform would cost Alaska millions

Rolling back criminal justice reform would cost Alaska millions

Senate Bill 91, one of the biggest changes to Alaska’s criminal justice system in decades, was touted as using an evidence-based approach to emphasize treatment and diversion instead of prison.

The core idea behind the bill was that prison terms for lesser offenses trap people in a cycle. If they go to jail, they can’t keep a job. If they can’t keep a job, they’re more likely to turn to crime to survive.

“You put them in jail, they’re more likely to commit a crime in the future,” said John Skidmore, head of the criminal division of the Alaska Department of Law.

Now, lawmakers are discarding that system before it has even been fully implemented.

The Alaska Senate Finance Committee is considering Senate Bills 54 and 55, which would increase prison terms for some of the crimes that SB 91 addressed.

That approach will cost more money and won’t reduce crime, experts warned the committee on Tuesday.

“You’ll both see a negative impact on the budget … but also reduced effectiveness in terms of reducing recidivism,” said Quinlan Steiner, the state’s public defender and a member of the Alaska Criminal Justice Commission.

Corrections commissioner Dean Williams said Tuesday that if lawmakers roll back last year’s criminal justice reform bill, the state will spend millions of dollars per year and may be forced to reopen a prison it closed.

“My budget has been set with the expectation that there is going to be future contraction of the prison population,” Williams said. “If we make these changes and we have enhancements in some of these sentences, I’m looking for some dollars to come back into the system to keep the system a viable system and keep it a safe prison system.”

Asked whether the Department of Corrections might be forced to reopen the recently closed Palmer Correctional Center, Williams said, “Yeah, it’s possible.”

Financial notes presented to the committee indicate the rollback could cost the state more than $4.3 million per year. That’s almost 20 percent of the savings forecast when Senate Bill 91 passed the Legislature last year.

The Criminal Justice Commission spent years in research and discussion before making 21 unanimous recommendations to the Legislature in 2015. Those recommendations were the heart of SB 91. SB 91 also promised to save $21.1 million per year and millions more in deferred costs.

Earlier this year, a divided commission made recommendations to modify the bill. Lawmakers have incorporated some of those changes into SB 54 and SB 55, but they’ve gone beyond those recommendations on a handful of controversial items.

The biggest of those is a change to sentencing for Class C felonies, the least-severe felony category. Class C felonies represent 40 percent of all people jailed in Alaska.

SB 91 imposed a suspended jail sentence for people convicted of a Class C felony for the first time. This year, the commission recommended changing that to an active jail sentence of 0-90 days, chosen by the judge. Lawmakers instead put an active sentencing range of 0-365 days into SB 54.

“A year of jail amounts to what is basically a rollback of the original policy,” Steiner said, “and what you’re going to see from this is an increase in felony convictions and jail time without any associated increase in rehabilitation, necessarily.”

Lawmakers are being driven by an outcry from their constituents, who — according to the Alaska Justice Statistical Analysis Center — have seen a surge in violent crime since 2014.

“Citizens are pretty upset,” said Walt Monegan, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety. “What’s happening now … does not appear to work.”

Testifying during a public comment period Tuesday, Ron Flint of Nugget Alaskan Outfitters, said he’s seen a surge in shoplifting since the passage of SB 91.

“I get a sense that these criminals feel emboldened,” he said.

Most of the other testifiers, however, urged lawmakers to stick to SB 91 and give it a chance.

Speaking for the Alaska Federation of Natives, Nicole Borromeo said “the evidence is simply not there” when it comes to the need for changes. AFN favors making no changes before 2021.

Kara Nelson, director of Haven House in Juneau, asked lawmakers to keep SB 91 in place and said she has seen people turn their lives around at the halfway house she manages.

“Our public safety has definitely not been diminished because people are given opportunity to be parents and build communities together,” she said.


• Contact reporter James Brooks at james.k.brooks@juneauempire.com or 419-7732.


 

More in News

(Juneau Empire file photo)
Aurora forecast through the week of Dec. 22

These forecasts are courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute… Continue reading

A street in a Mendenhall Valley neighborhood is closed following record flooding on Aug. 6 that damaged nearly 300 homes. (City and Borough of Juneau photo)
Flood district protection plan faces high barrier if enough property owners protest $6,300 payments

Eight of nine Assembly members need to OK plan if enough objections filed; at least two already have doubts.

Sunset hues color the sky and the snow at the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus on Feb. 26, 2024. The University of Alaska system and the union representing nearly 1,100 faculty members and postdoctoral fellows are headed into federal mediation in January. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
University of Alaska-faculty contract negotiations head for federal mediation

Parties say they’re hopeful; outcome will depend on funding being included in the next state budget.

The newly named Ka-PLOW is seen with other Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities equipment in Juneau in a video announcing the names of three local snowplows in a contest featuring more than 400 entries. (Screenshot from Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities video)
Newly named DOT snowplows probably won’t visit Juneau neighborhoods until after Christmas

Berminator, Salt-O-Saurus Rex, Ka-PLOW selected as winners in contest with more than 400 entries.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Police calls for Friday, Dec. 20, 2024

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Police calls for Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

Denali as seen in a picture distributed by the U.S. Geological Survey in 2015 when the nation’s tallest mountain was renamed from Mount McKinley. (National Park Service photo)
Trump vows name of highest mountain in U.S. will be changed from Denali back to Mt. McKinley

Similar declaration by Trump in 2016 abandoned after Alaska’s U.S. senators expressed opposition.

State Rep. Sara Hannan talks with visitors outside her office at the Alaska State Capitol during the annual holiday open house hosted by Juneau’s legislative delegation on Friday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
A moving holiday season for Juneau’s legislators

Delegation hosts annual open house as at least two prepare to occupy better offices as majority members.

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, Dec. 18, 2024. The Senate passed bipartisan legislation early Saturday that would give full Social Security benefits to a group of public sector retirees who currently receive them at a reduced level, sending the bill to President JOE Biden. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times)
Congress OKs full Social Security benefits for public sector retirees, including 15,000 in Alaska

Biden expected to sign bill that eliminates government pension offset from benefits.

Most Read