The idea is to pivot from the tough-on-crime days of the 1980s and 1990s, when leaders took a harder, more punitive line on crime. But if that’s not enough to convince, Krabbenhoft supplies the numbers: it cost roughly $48,400 in the 2020 fiscal year to house an inmate in North Dakota, versus $1,800 to put them on parole. That latter number doesn’t count anti-drug programming and the like, Krabbenhoft concedes, but even that addition wouldn’t make the numbers close, he said.
But while most state leaders like the idea of a more humane, more effective prison system, getting there is proving a difficult public policy dance, with prosecutors and law enforcement raising serious concerns about the unintended consequences of moving too quickly or too far. That’s the case with multiple bills now before the state Legislature setting parole mandates and changing bail rules and more.