The number of people in state prisons increased last year after three consecutive years of decline, according to a report released by the U.S. Justice Department.
Missouri’s prisoner population went up 0.9 percent, but Illinois’ numbers stabilized.
John Maki, the executive director of Illinois prison watchdog group the John Howard Association, said it’s an achievement that the Illinois prison population did not go up after years of increase.
In 2009 and 2010, a program was suspended that gave 180 days of good time credit to certain inmates convicted of nonviolent crimes. The Illinois’ prison population experienced significant growth.
“The population in Illinois’ prison system was climbing very quickly,” Maki said.
He said the number of prisoners stabilized because Sentence Credits, a version of the suspended program, was reinstated.
Aida Hass is an assistant criminology professor at Missouri State University and she said an increase in prisoners does not mean that there was an increase in crime.
“It’s not always a function of people flowing in,” Hass said. “It could be that less people are flowing out,” she said.
According to Hass several factors can affect prison populations like length of prison sentences and police practices.