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49 Fed. Probation 13 (1985)
Home as Prison: The Use of House Arrest

handle is hein.journals/fedpro49 and id is 15 raw text is: Home As Prison: The Use of House Arrest BY RONALD P. CORBETr, JR. AND ELLSWORTH A. L. FERSCH* RISON OVERCROWDING has been a ma- jor crisis in the correctional field for at least the last few years. The topic has dominated yearly budgetary discussions between legislative bodies and correctional administrators.' It has preempted consideration for growth in governmen- tal expenditures in other areas, as elected officials ponder their means of meeting the one problem alone. Beleaguered administrators have more recently taken to public, media-directed warnings about the explosive potential as prison and jail populations continue to swell considerably past capacity.2 The urgency of the problem has been recognized at the highest level as well. President Reagan's Task Force on Violent Crime, in its published report of September 1982, proclaimed the following: The problem of available bed space in our state prisons is the single most significant criminal justice issue in the country today.3 In the state of Massachusetts, Governor Dukakis' Anti- Crime Council has already established relief to over- crowded prisons and jails as its top priority.4 Why the clamor? Partly, it is an expression of con- cern for the conditions in which most inmates live. The Federal Court System has been inundated with prisoner law suits claiming violation of the eighth amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment, and courts-in some cases-have responded by ordering some states, under penalty of contempt proceedings, to improve conditions.5 Those states' executives who may have trouble mustering sympathy for inmates sleeping next to boilers or sharing 5 by 8 cells with others will usual- ly respond to a direct court order. Failing to comply could threaten their tenure or budget. Secondly, and more importantly, the issue is not a temporary or stabilized one. Statistical projections for growing censuses at prisons have consistently been exceeded in reality. For example, in 1979, the then governor of New York, Hugh Carey, projected that the state would need 4,000 new prison cells by 1986. That projection was surpassed in 1981. Dur- *Ronald P. Corbett, Jr. is director of training, Office of the Commissioner of Probation, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Ellsworth A. L. Fersch is a court psychologist, Brighton and Brookline, Massachusetts, a lecturer on psychology at Harvard University, and chief psychologist, Massachusetts Mental Health Center. ing his first month in office, in January 1983, Gover- nor Cuomo's projections for new cells needed within 12 months was reached in four.6 As judges show no inclination to move away from sentencing patterns that have grown stiffer since the mid-1970's, today's overwhelming problem will take on catastrophic proportions soon. Much of the answer to the question as now posed must come in the form of new prison construction. Though this is inevitable, it raises enormous dif- ficulties on many fronts for state executives. First, any significant new construction is immensely ex- pensive.7 The 8,800 new cells that Governor Cuomo claims are needed will come at a cost of $700 million and will absorb most of any foreseeable growth in state expenditures.' Secondly, the public is ex- ceedingly fickle about such proposals. Anxious to see more serious criminals locked up, the public re- mains uninterested in publicly subsidized bond issues for construction and positively adamant on the point that prisons, however funded, shall not be placed near anyone's home. This creates, to put it mildly, a dilemma for public officials who would like to think that the problem is solvable. In an attempt to deal with the dilemma, we argue for increased attention to alternatives to incarcera- tion. Within those alternatives, traditional options now coexist with some of a newer vintage. Alternatives to Incarceration Prisons have never been the answer for the over- whelming majority of offenders. Rather, most of- fenders are never incarcerated. Most offenders are viewed as needing something less than incarcera- 'Robert Gangi. Never Enough Prisons, New York Times. August 6. 1983. p. A25. Prison Overcrowding, Criminal Justice Newsletter, fall promotional circular, *1984. p. 1. Report to the President of the United States on Violent Crime, Department of Justice. Washington. D.C., 1982. 4 Phone conversations with support staff, Governor Dukakis' Anti-Crime Council Summer 1983. ' Prison Overcrowding, Criminal Justice Newsletter. Fall promotional circular, 1984, p. 1. 6 Robert Gangi. Never Enough Prisons. New York Times, August 6, 1983. p. A25. William G. Blair, Inmate Cost is Put at $40,000 a Year, New York Times, December 27, 1984, p. 1. s Robert Gangi. Never Enough Prisons, New York Times, August 6. 1983. p. A25.

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