As part of the on-going informational briefings for House and Senate members, legislative fiscal staff told us on Tuesday morning that the Department of Correction will likely need an additional 2,500 prison beds by 2011. The increase is due to growth in the rate of felony convictions and the length of sentences. The analysts said the General Assembly must make decisions on building new prisons this year, but added. Lawmakers could reform sentencing and work to reduce recidivism, or repeat offender, rates to narrow the number of beds needed.
On Wednesday the discussion shifted to our state’s mental health services and possible ways to make needed improvements in communities across the state. In
Legislative staff members described several large problems in the state’s mental-health system. The problems include the regional disparities in the quality of care and the state’s over reliance on psychiatric hospitals. Many rural areas are hit the hardest. In each county, a “Local Management Entity,” or LME, is set up to contract with private mental-health-care providers, but some rural counties simply do not have enough providers. Legislators approved $95 million in new funding for mental health services in the 2006-07 budget and are expected to continue working on additional reforms and improvements in the coming months.
In fact several new standing committees have been created, including one on mental health reform, which is a signal that a growing number of legislators want mental health services to be a priority in next year’s budget. All House committees are expected to be announced next week.
This week’s briefings were our first in-depth look at the state’s corrections and mental health systems and expected expenses in both areas as we begin our work to draft and approve a two-year budget during the next five months. Next week, we will receive briefings on public education and retiree health benefits.
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