Want to change a life? Make the community safer? Save taxpayer dollars?
Incarcerating someone for one year costs around $35,000–as I wrote about yesterday in The Atlantic.com–it’s the equivalent of a year’s college tuition. It also leads to more crime in the long run as the national recidivism rate for returning prisoners hovers around 66%. That means two-thirds of prisoners are being released and committing new crimes, which also cost new taxpayer dollars to prosecute.
The result of our current criminal justice system is a revolving door of crime and cost. And this door primarily affects communities of color and poverty.
So, how do we stop it? One way is to provide prisoners with a means of breaking the cycle. A way to become productive citizens.
Cue the Prison Post-Education Project located in Seattle, Washington. The non-profit is the brainchild of Ari Kohn. The Project helps released prisoners attend college.
Does it work? Washington state’s recidivism rate is over 45%, whereas the recidivism rate of former prisoners who go through the Post-Education Project is TWO PERCENT!
For every dollar the Project spends, it probably saves taxpayers 10 dollars.
If you are interested in the Project, please watch the video here, to see how it literally saves lives.