Researcher says Alaska should reopen prison farm

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – The lead researcher for Pew Charitable Trusts working in Alaska to make recommendations for statewide criminal justice reform has urged lawmakers and corrections officials to consider opening a “closed facility’ to reduce the inmate population.

Terry Schuster, Pew senior associate for the Public Safety Performance Project, said if additional reforms are not put in place, the prison population will outpace the state’s ability to house inmates. He is proposing reopening the Point MacKenzie Correctional Farm to accept prisoners.

He shared his plan with a crowd of people who help prisoners readjust to public life during a meeting in downtown Anchorage last week. He also shared it previously at a legislative hearing in September and a workshop at this year’s Alaska Federation of Native conference.

“In 2017, the prison population surpasses the state’s ability to house them. At that point, the solution for housing would be reopening a facility that has been closed,’ he said. “By the following year, 2018, the population would have passed that additional capacity, and at that point the easiest solution would be sending inmates out of state.’

However, the Department of Corrections does not consider Point MacKenzie a closed facility. Spokeswoman Sherrie Daigle said the farm “remains fully functional,’ although the 128 beds at the facility are not being used.

Inmates were housed at the facility, where they tended vegetables and livestock, up until early last year. Now, inmate workers are transported back and forth by bus from the Goose Creek Correctional Center, another jail in the Mat-Su.

The cost of allowing prisoners to fill the beds at Point MacKenzie and operating the entire facility, along with the cost of housing inmates outside of Alaska over a 10-year period would be at least $169 million, according to Schuster.

“That is the cost of doing nothing. That price tag is the continued growth. The state isn’t doing nothing. The Legislature, the governor’s office and others have identified this as a priority area for examination. The criminal justice commission has been formed (and) has been meeting and developing policy options,’ Schuster said.

Daigle said the DOC does not have plans to use the open beds or start sending prisoners out of state. She said the agency is considering other options to reduce the inmate population, including placing inmates who qualify on electric monitoring or in a halfway house.