Georgia leads nation in parolee population

New York —- The number of people on parole and probation across the United States has surged past 5 million, and Georgia leads the way, according to a new report.

The Pew Center on the States report, released Monday, said states can save money in the long run by investing in better supervision of these offenders.

It said the number of people on probation or parole nearly doubled between 1982 and 2007. Including jail and prison inmates, the total population of the U.S. corrections system now exceeds 7.3 million —- one of every 31 U.S. adults, it said.

But it also noted huge discrepancies among the states in regard to the total corrections population —- from one of every 13 adults in Georgia at one end of the scale to one of every 88 in New Hampshire at the other extreme.

The Georgia Department of Corrections said the number might be inflated by double-counting of some offenders, who may be listed under both state and local supervision because the systems are separate.

But it has previously acknowledged that its probation population is the highest per capita in the country, and that the large number of Georgians on probation means that the state’s probation officers have had a caseload far higher than the national average.

Georgia corrections officials on Monday could not say what the current caseload is or whether it will be affected by state budget cuts.

The report noted that construction of new prisons is declining as states grapple with budget crises, and said improved community-supervision strategies represent one of the most feasible ways for states to limit corrections spending and reduce recidivism.

Costs per year for a prison inmate average nearly $29,000, while average costs for managing parolees and probationers range from $1,250 to $2,750 a year.

Adam Gelb, director of Pew’s Public Safety Performance Project, stressed that violent and incorrigible criminals need to be locked up, but contended that many prison inmates could be safely overseen in their communities at far lower cost.

Gelb said advanced technology could be used to improve supervision without necessarily hiring more personnel. For example, he said some states now allow parolees and probationers to periodically report to an ATM-like kiosk, rather than to a person in a state office.

In any case, said Gelb, states could double or triple the amount they spend supervising parolees and probationers and still come out ahead financially if the result was a reduced prison population.

In Alaska, where construction is set to begin soon on a new medium-security prison, the corrections commissioner said he agreed with the thrust of the report.

“Confinement is the foundation of the system, but we are trying to move away from the philosophy that incarceration will solve the problem,” said Joseph Schmidt. “What we are hoping is that we don’t grow our prison population to a point where we can’t afford it.”

Staff writer Bill Steiden contributed to this article.