OfTheCross
Veteran
The disparity between prison and school spending is not unique to South Carolina — in fact, it’s the same across the country. We compared the most recent data on state prison spending from the Vera Institute of Justice, a criminal justice think tank, with state-by-state public school expenditures from the National Education Association.
Every state averaged more spending on inmates than students, based on the available data from 2015, which included 45 states. On average, these states spent $11,709 per student, and $33,274 per inmate, or nearly three times more on prisons than schools.
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Maybe if we increased the spending on the students less of them will end up in prison?
Anecdotally, I don't think that prisoner spending is out of line. I'm just surprised that it's so much higher than student spending.
Every state averaged more spending on inmates than students, based on the available data from 2015, which included 45 states. On average, these states spent $11,709 per student, and $33,274 per inmate, or nearly three times more on prisons than schools.
graph
Maybe if we increased the spending on the students less of them will end up in prison?
Anecdotally, I don't think that prisoner spending is out of line. I'm just surprised that it's so much higher than student spending.