The prison system is not a jobs program
On March 19, the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory (REAL) at the University of Illinois released an assessment of the economic impacts on local economies of proposed closures of four correctional and adult transition centers – Tamms, Dwight, Westside, and Peoria. The study, Impact of the Closure of Selected Department of Corrections Facilities, calculates the direct, indirect...
On March 19, the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory (REAL) at the University of Illinois released an assessment of the economic impacts on local economies of proposed closures of four correctional and adult transition centers – Tamms, Dwight, Westside, and Peoria. The study, Impact of the Closure of Selected Department of Corrections Facilities, calculates the direct, indirect and induced employment and income effects on the local economy of closing each facility. For example, the report concludes that closing the Tamms Correctional Center would result in 338 lost jobs and $11.7 million of lost labor income in that local region. I don’t quibble with the assessment per se, but it’s a distraction from the real issue at hand.
The purpose of prisons is to incarcerate violent offenders in order to protect the public safety, not to generate jobs or income. The proposed closures should be assessed on their own merits, that is, do the closures allow for public safety to be more adequately served at lower marginal cost. This should be the sole factor used to assess potential closures. The prison system is not a “jobs program” and should not be viewed as such. And even REAL admits that their job calculations are dependent on “the degree to which existing employees opt to seek jobs in alternative sectors of the economy in the same region.” In other words, if the former facility employees remain employed in the same region, there are no, or few, job losses.
Politicians who represent the areas where these facilities are located like the gloom-and-doom assessments because they help rally local constituents to oppose the closures. But these reports have no place in a rational decision process. It’s akin to politicians having ordered an assessment of potential lost jobs in the horse-and-buggy industry before the auto industry was allowed to operate. Progress should not pivot on a nose-count.
The governor is right to make prison-closure decisions based on the big picture of what is best for the state as a whole, not based on local impacts. With $8.5 billion in unpaid state obligations, “the need for lower spending in our budget gives us no choice,” to quote Gov. Quinn.