Taxpayers pay $42 a day to house an adult offender in the Maricopa County jail and $53 a day to house an inmate in the state prison system.

Probation presents a less expensive alternative, Barbara Broderick, chief of Maricopa County Adult Probation, told the House Alternatives to Sentencing Work Group on Sept. 3. The group is looking at sentencing policies that could help ease prison overcrowding.

Ms. Broderick said the daily cost of an adult offender on standard probation is $4, and the most expensive probation – intensive probation – costs $26 a day. There is also an unsupervised probation that runs $1 a day.

Ms. Broderick stressed that the primary objective of probation in Maricopa County is community safety. That is achieved, she said, by using a balanced approach in changing the offender’s behavior, employing assessment of the offender, case management, surveillance and treatment.

“We’ve got to deal with whatever is going on in that man’s or woman’s mind,” she said. “It can be very labor intensive, but it is a very viable alternative.”

The major causes for failure in the probation program are drugs and alcohol, she said.

“Some just cannot stay clean and sober,” she added. “They go back to alcohol or back to drugs. They start down that spiral path. It’s downhill from there.”

Treatment Works, Official Says

She said keeping offenders in treatment programs is a major challenge.

However, Ms. Broderick had statistics to show that the program’s failure is low.

During fiscal 2003, 60 per cent of the offenders on standard probation complied with court order payments of restitution to victims, 70 per cent did not test positive for drugs and 80 per cent were not returned to the state prison system.

During the same time frame, the intensive probation program had the following results:

• Seven of 10 in need of treatment were participating in a treatment program.

• Two of three were working full time and paid $1.3 million in state withholding taxes.

• Three of four were paying their probation fees.

Ms. Broderick said that as of July 1, there were 45,946 offenders in the Maricopa County program, most of whom were placed on probation as part of their sentence.

In fiscal 2003, she said, 67 per cent of the sentences in Maricopa County placed offenders on some form of supervised probation, 30 per cent sent them to the state prison system and 3 per cent placed them on unsupervised probation, which normally entails monthly telephone contact.

In addition to the standard supervised probation and the intensive probation program, Ms. Broderick said Maricopa County has specialized programs for sex offenders, persons convicted of domestic violence, the seriously mentally ill and drivers with DUI convictions. The daily cost of those programs range from $6 to $9.

The most serious offense committed by probationers in Maricopa County is drugs. About 37 per cent of the probationers are in the program because of a drug charge. The national average is 24 per cent.

Following cuts in the probation program brought on by budget tightening in fiscal 2003, Ms. Broderick said the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has put together a rebuilding program.

On Sept. 8, the Board is expected to approve reinstating 35 positions and provide for expanding the staff along with enhancing salaries to retain current staff.

Ms. Broderick acknowledged that nearly 30 per cent of offenders do not want to be placed on probation or do things to have their probation revoked.

“It apparently is easier for them to do the time than deal with the problem,” she said. —