Maryland policymakers recognize that the solution to drug crime lies in treatment, not prison, and they have begun to expand treatment alternatives to incarceration. Justice Strategies has worked with The Justice Policy Institute since 2002 to develop policy proposals that promote public safety and health, while reducing correctional costs.
Despite recent efforts in Maryland to expand access to treatment for addicts caught up in the criminal justice system, the bulk of the state resources available for addressing the problem remain "locked up" in the prison system. The nearly 5,000 drug prisoners incarcerated in Maryland (1 i
In the past five years, elected officials in a majority of states have responded to fiscal pressures and the public's waning enthusiasm for the war on drugs by enacting sentencing and correctional reforms designed to reduce costs and improve outcomes. Two years ago, Maryland lawmakers enacted a