Services help determine whether probation succeeds

By Steve Kanigher, Alex Richards

Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008 | 2 a.m.

The contrast between the probation rates for felons in Nevada and Massachusetts is as stark as the states’ climatic and geographic differences.

The Bay State had the highest probation rate in 2006, nearly five times Nevada’s, a Sun analysis of 2006 data found. Massachusetts had 3,398 probationers for every 100,000 adult residents in 2006, the most recent year for which data is available. Nevada ranked 47th on the list, with only 710 felons on probation for every 100,000 adult residents.

Opponents of probation contend that high probation rates lead to higher crime rates, but judging from other states’ success, it all depends on what you do with those probationers.

In Massachusetts, for example, the 2006 crime rate was just slightly more than half of Nevada’s. That’s right, Nevada, where we lock up our felons rather than placing them on probation, has nearly twice the crime rate of “soft on crime” Massachusetts.

Eligible felons in Massachusetts are diverted from prison through 25 community corrections centers throughout the state. Participants live at home but are instructed to regularly attend the centers for supervision of their community service work and for drug and alcohol testing. They can complete their GED or learn English as a second language, get jobs or employment training and get referrals to health care providers.

“These centers are for the probationers who are more at risk of being incarcerated,” said Coria Holland, spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Office of the Commissioner of Probation. “Most of those who are sent to the centers have issues with substance abuse.”

A similar system is used in Minnesota, the state with the second highest per capita probation rate in 2006 — 3,256 probationers for every 100,000 adult residents. It established a network of nonprofit halfway houses for certain offenders as an alternative to prison. It also has community corrections programs in its counties to keep nonviolent felons close to home.

“Because the counties do have these services, judges will often deviate downward on a sentence to keep them in the community,” said Harley Nelson, deputy commissioner of community services for the Minnesota Corrections Department.

“We lock up only the most serious offenders,” Nelson said.

Farther down the list, Georgia, with the 11th highest probation rate, has only four times as many adult residents as Nevada but 10 times as many felons on cost-saving probation.

“We believe in locking up those we’re afraid of but not those we’re mad at, if there’s a chance we can safely release them,” said Stan Cooper, Georgia’s probation director. “Our courts pride themselves on their sentencing options, and our district attorneys know we can’t lock everyone up.”

What makes Georgia so different from Nevada? Well, the Peach State has vast community-based networks that provide the probationers with extensive substance abuse counseling, job training and other life skills — all services in short supply in Nevada.

Georgia uses a multi-tiered system that includes: “street” probation for offenders who live in their own residences and maintain jobs, but are subject to various degrees of supervision; day reporting centers that provide substance abuse treatment, adult education and employment training; diversion centers that require offenders to work outside the facilities during the day but return at night; and short-term 24-hour detention centers that serve as a last resort to avoid sending offenders back to a more expensive prison.

As is the case in almost all of the states with high probation rates, saving taxpayers money is the impetus behind Georgia’s system too, which spends $48.53 a day on average to house a prison inmate, but $1.82 a day for probation supervision, Cooper said.

“We’ve been very pleased with the day reporting centers,” Cooper said. “We’ve opened six since 2005 and we’re opening up two more this year. They target drug offenders who are on the verge of going to prison. If they don’t have jobs, our counselors assist them in getting employment.”

And Georgia’s crime rate? Georgia had 4,360 crimes for every 100,000 residents in 2006, according to the Justice Department. The comparable number for Nevada was 4,831.