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The NAACP recently released a report—“Misplaced Priorities: Over Incarcerate, Under Educate”—which, as the title suggests, argues the federal and state governments are misplacing priorities in their allocation of funds to prisons rather than education. In the report and in recent interviews, NAACP President Benjamin Jealous and other sympathizers (including some fiscally conservative groups and prison groups) make compelling points about this funding tradeoff.

An Edweek article quotes Jealous saying that this “multidecade trend of prioritizing incarceration over education is not sustainable.” The report cites data from the Pew Center on the States among other sources that backup his assertions about allotment:

• While state general fund spending declined for kindergarten through 12th grade education and higher education in 2009, 33 states spent a bigger percentage on prisons than they had in 2008.
• The report also indicates that America spends $88,000 a year to send one person to prison and about $9,000 a year to send one person to school.
• Further, while America’s population accounts for 5 percent of the world, America’s prison population accounts for 25 percent of the world’s prison population.

In an NPR interview, Jealous also pointed out that Connecticut spends a whopping $400,000 to incarcerate a minor for a year. He quipped that if the system spends $400,000 on a kid, you would expect that person to have a Ph.D. and Ferrari to show for it. Far from this, in current systems incarcerated minors and young adults often come out of prison more dangerous than when they entered. 

Jealous says he doesn’t advocate for being “soft on crime,” but rather wants states to be “smart on crime,” in part by figuring out ways to help offenders lead responsible lives rather than simply locking them up (though its important to note his emphasis seems to be on prevention, as well as on rehabilitation of less-violent drug offenders, rather than on easing sentences for violent offenders). He also points out that current drug policies result in locking up a lot of poor black mothers (the rate of incarcerated black women has increased greatly in recent decades), leaving their children to bounce around in foster care. Data indicate that certain communities are especially hard hit by incarceration (he notes that within these communities, money financing prison sentencing is often the largest public-sector investment), and that math achievement among students from these communities is considerably lower than students from otherwise demographically-similar communities.

There have been some recent victories in efforts to downsize prisons and increase education budgets, however. Jealous takes credit in part for South Carolina’s decision last year to remove the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine, and for New York’s decision to discard its Rockefeller drug laws.  The NAACP and its allies are also pushing for incarceration reform bills in Texas and Georgia.

The report itself suggests ideas for helping states prioritize education over incarceration. These include:

• Creating commissions to identify ways to decrease the prison population (especially by re-evaluating drug policies) and shift savings to education.
• Provide for earlier releases for prisoners who participate in educational and vocational programs and drug and mental health treatment.
• Supporting violence-reduction programs targeting at-risk youth that use evidence-based strategies.
• Shortening prison terms for young offenders and helping them earn GEDs.

In our current national context in which budgets are strapped and cuts can deeply affect critical services, here we have an option that serves the greater good all around. I hope more states (and dare I say the federal government) will get on board with shifting public funds from incarceration to investment in education and improving options for poor communities.