20 U.S. Cities Spend More on Detention Than Public Programs

For too long, the system of mass criminalization in California and in many cities around the country has deprived minority communities of significant resources.

“Too much is being spent on systems that handcuff people and send them to prisons and jails,” said Oscar Luna, a political organizer and community leader for the Power Movement in Colorado. “The problem is not lack of money. This is how our leaders chose to spend it.”

Born in Toluca, Mexico, Oscar is co-author of the Criminalization Against Crime study. Care, a collaboration between Communities United in Illinois, Reimagine Richmond in California, Movimiento Poder in Colorado, and the Social Movement Support Laboratory, a program of the University of Denver.

The report shows that public investment in mass incarceration, including police, prosecutors, and the judiciary, receives up to 10 times the budget of mental health, mental health, affordable housing, parks and recreation, or comprehensive youth and family services.

In fact, the top five metropolitan areas that have invested the most in public safety resulting in mass incarceration are: New York City ($7.7 billion); Los Angeles County (5.5 billion); Chicago (2.2 billion); San Diego County (2.1 billion) and City of Los Angeles (1.8 billion).

“Many communities across the country are in dire need of a solution to the lack of affordable housing, access to mental health care and other services that can improve people’s lives, but we often have to struggle for crumbs to fund these services,” said Roxanne Smith of United Communities. Chicago. “On the other hand, cities are funding a massive criminalization system that has done more harm and failed to create a safer environment in our communities.”

From your side. Marisol Cantu, director of organization and training for the Safe Return Project and leader of Reimagine Richmond, said that although her city has only 115,000 residents and is dominated by African Americans and Hispanics, it takes more to police per family of money. than the top 20 US cities.

“Police costs are $1,939 per family,” said a community leader who asked the question, “If our budgets are a moral contract between our local government and the community, then what does this report say about our values, our community, and caring for it?” ? and what does this say about our country and society as such?

other conclusions

• In 2022, the 20 largest US cities and their counties spent a total of $37.9 billion on mass criminalization.

• 16 out of 20 cities invest more in criminalization than in community care systems. Cities like Chicago spend an average of $1,745 per family on mass criminalization, compared to $245 per family on public spending.

• In 19 out of 20 cities and 12 out of 14 counties, the mass criminalization system has more employees than the community care system.

“It’s a Deal”

Luis Vargas and his wife Florentina were both direct and indirect victims of mass incarceration of members of racial minorities.

Both of them are aware of the injustices of the criminal system: Louis spent 18 years of his life behind bars. He was wrongly accused of being a “teardrop rapist”, a criminal who raped women in Los Angeles and was never apprehended.

Louis, 53, was acquitted in 2015 by a judge of three crimes he never committed. He was released in 2016 and was about to be deported to Mexico.

He had to spend another six months in the immigration prison in Santa Ana before he was finally released from prison.

“Imagine if putting people in jail is not that much,” Vargas told La Opinión. “In my case, I did the math and the annual cost of my jail time was $96,580 paid by taxpayers.”

This man, who is now an evangelical preacher, says he was not surprised by the report

“Criminalization versus Caution”.

“California has a powerful California Correctional Guards Association (CCPOA) and they are making a fortune,” he added.

Indeed, the salary range in this department starts from when they are cadets ($4,099 per month); $5,043 upon graduation from the academy. Thereafter, semi-annual and yearly adjustments are made to higher ranks until the corrections officer reaches the top of the salary scale: $8,422 per month, excluding overtime pay or fringe benefits.

“My husband’s imprisonment has separated my family for a long time,” Florentina said. “My daughter Krystal was 12 years old. [ahora tiene 33] he needed a father and to get away from reality, he began to try drugs.

Largest prison system in the US

The most striking example of mass incarceration is Los Angeles County. It represents the largest system in the United States among the 3,096 county prison jurisdictions. In 2021, it held 14,577 prisoners per day, almost 2,500 fewer than in 2019.

Because the population of Los Angeles County is larger than most states in the US, its prison system holds more inmates than all the prisons in any of the 37 states in the country.

In 2019, approximately 2% of all U.S. county prison inmates were incarcerated in Los Angeles County prisons, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

In Los Angeles County, the racial demographics of his inmates in the final quarter of 2021 were 54% Hispanic, 29% African American, and 13% White. Asians made up less than 1%, and American Indians even less.

multi-million dollar budget

In the 2021–2022 Los Angeles County Budget, the total budget for the Sheriff’s Department, which manages the county’s prisons, was $3.37 billion, of which $842.6 million (or about 24%) was spent on its prison system. This includes $3.160 billion in payroll and benefits; $238.7 million for services and supplies; and $17.3 million for capital goods and equipment.

20 cities included in the study “Criminalization vs. Caution: Denver (Colorado); Charlotte, North Carolina; Chicago (Illinois); Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio (TX); Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose (California); New York, New York); Phoenix, Arizona); Oklahoma City (Oklahoma); Columbus (Ohio); Seattle, Washington); Indianapolis (Indiana); Jacksonville, Florida; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).