Rep. Taylor Supports Prison Bill

State Rep. John Taylor (R-Kensington) has voted to join his House colleagues in supporting SB 100 to reform and cut costs for the Pennsylvania Dept. of Corrections.

“Every department in the state must find ways to cut costs,” Taylor said. “But we must also reform our corrections system so the more-dangerous offenders are locked up. That means finding more effective ways to treat nonviolent offenders.”

SB 100 would reduce the number of nonviolent offenders in state prisons and increase the efficiency of the state’s parole process. The bill would expand the use for nonviolent offenders of County Intermediate Punishment; State Intermediate Punishment; State Motivational Boot Camps; and the Recidivism Risk Reduction Incentive program. It would also create a Safe Community Reentry Program; phase out the state’s existing pre-release program, to be replaced by a reinvented community corrections system; alter the state’s current sanctioning process for probation violators in an attempt to offer more punishment options rather than imposing lengthy and costly prison terms; and allow the Board of Probation & Parole to use advanced communications technology in parole hearings to increase the agency’s productivity and decrease the number of delays.

The expected savings: $300 million during the next five years. “This bill would reform a system that has grown so out-of-date that we have had a challenging time keeping violent felons behind bars,” Taylor said. “These changes will do that.”

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