Maryland Prison Population in Decline

How much has it dropped?

Over incarceration has become a tent pole of national debate in America and the Maryland experience may have a lot to contribute to this debate. The Vera Institute of Justice collected, synthesized, and published numbers that confirm Maryland is amongst several other states that have seen a drop in their amount of incarcerated persons. This information comes from individual states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons with the data revealing that the Maryland prison system is on a downward trajectory since 2015. However, this is contrary to the experience of many other states. Approximately twenty other states have reported a steep increase in their number of persons in state custody. Many of these states have broken their own all-time records for number of incarcerated persons. This data shows the vastly different way states have been coping with the abnormally high prison incarceration rate in the United States compared to its European counterparts.

Maryland’s drop has been particularly noteworthy. In 2016-2017, almost 2,000 inmates exited state custody to hopefully begin a new life. This one-year drop is the biggest Maryland has had in a decade. Although this drop was steep, Maryland’s incarceration rate has been dropping for several years before these more astounding decreases. The 2016-2017 drop represents almost a 10% drop in the Maryland prison system overall. 

What is causing the drop?

The researchers over at Vera credit the criminal justice reforms that have taken place in Maryland for the dramatic decline. Most notably, the researchers credit Justice Reinvestment Act. This bill signed into law in 2016 by Governor Larry Hogan is credited as being the most substantial and comprehensive criminal justice reform bill in a generation. The reforms aimed to recue sentence for minor drug crimes, improve parole/probation polices, and eliminate mandatory minimums. The seismic shift in policy from the more “crime and punishment” view of drug-policing has yielded dividends. As mentioned above, the incarceration has dropped substantially. In fact, it has dropped almost double what the legislators who wrote the bill intended. Nearly 34 other states have followed Maryland’s lead and have or to intent to pass legislation akin to the Justice Reinvestment Act. Another interesting portion of the bill is that it mandates the money saved from its proposals into crime prevention.

What motivated the new legislation?

Pew Charitable Trust and the Bureau of Justice Assistance authored many of the reforms mandated by the Justice Reinvestment Act. These organizations launched the Justice Reinvestment Initiative as a tool to combat inflating prison populations. The initiative began in 2006 and has since influenced the criminal justice reforms of over 30 states. The cornerstone of the initiative was to convince states that these reforms were not “soft on crime”, but in fact reinforce safety. One of the cruxes of the report is detailing the failure the war on drugs has been and how it has contributed to an exorbitant prison population of people that could better be served by medical professionals. The comprehensive reports and statistics all support the idea that money spent on criminal justice and imprisonment could be used to benefit society better by reinvesting it into crime prevention.

The results are not that simple

The initiative was originally hailed as an across-the-board victory for states with the political power to enact such reforms. However, they have recently come under fire especially in Maryland. Critics of the initiative have accused it of being to blame for the rise in violent crime in Maryland. 343 homicides have rocked Maryland in the past year and have given critic the ammunition needed to chip away the legacy of Justice Reinvestment Act. Governor Logan, the signer of the initial bill, is advocating for more criminal justice reforms that may reverse some of the more progressive tenants of the Justice Reinvestment Act. The sweeping crime bill is in response to the increase in violent crime in Maryland which includes a record-breaking homicide rate and double the recorded shootings. The future of Maryland progress remains uncertain. The debate is a tough one. On one side, the reforms made to decrease the prison rate have worked and allow more crime prevention work to be funded. On the other hand, these reforms have correlated with the rise in violent crime. Additionally, it is possible that these two trends have very little to do with one another, but only time will show how this debate will play out.

How are other states doing?

The decrease in Maryland’s incarceration rate has been easily the most successful in the country, perhaps, rivaled only by the state of Louisiana. The reasons for this are mentioned above, but it is worth noting the experience of other states that have not been as successful. From 2016-2017, twenty states have increased the number of persons in state custody. At the top of the list is Tennessee. The Tennessean incarceration rate jumped 6.6% resulting in approximately 1,000 more prisoners than the year before. The runner-up is Kentucky with a 3.7% increase or just under 800 more prisoners. The rise is attributed to an antiquated way of understanding non-violent drug crimes. While the northeast and the west flirt with legalization of marijuana, greater emphasis on medical attention, abolishment of mandatory minimums, and reducing mandatory minimums, southern states have continued down the trek of contextualizing drug crimes as worthy of incarceration. Those states continue to wage the war on drugs (not to say that states with lower incarceration rates have stopped the war on drugs entirely, but certainly there has been a rollback) and in 2017 that will inevitably lead to higher volumes of prisoners. The states in-question have been buoyed, however, by the rise in violent crimes in Maryland. Opponents of the Justice Reinvestment initiatives proclaim their connection to be logical and as such they are not be ashamed of their high incarceration rate. In fact, some officials boast of their high incarceration rates believing them to be necessary to protect their jurisdictions. The truth of this is far from sure and the debate over incarceration continues to be an important touchstone of state policy.