Fwd: $8 on prisons for every $1 on students.

[Tobias Green]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sami Alloy, Oregon WFP <sal...@workingfamilies.org>
Date: Mon, May 20, 2013 at 1:44 PM
Subject: $8 on prisons for every $1 on students.
To: tobias...@yahoo.com

Tobias --

Stopping prison expansion would save Oregon taxpayers $600 million that could be spent on underfunded public programs. Tell your legislators to get Oregon's priorities straight. Oregon needs more schools, not more prisons.

The State of Oregon spends $30,000 per inmate on incarceration, and less than $4,000 per student on higher education. That's an 8 to 1 mismatch and it's not the right investment for Oregon’s future.

That’s why Oregon Working Families is part of a broad coalition to pass HB 3194, which would flatline prison growth.  If the bill passes unchanged, it would save taxpayers $600 million over the next ten years. However, there are forces in the legislature who are trying to water down this bill, despite broad-based support. [1]
 
Tell your legislators to invest in education, not more incarceration!  Support HB 3194 now and put Oregon’s resources where they're needed!
 
HB 3194 is a package of cost-saving reforms that would reduce the need for prison expansion, using the 19 recommendations of the Governor's Commission on Public Safety, including mandatory minimum reform, earned-review hearings for youth, and more earned time for low-risk offenders.  The bill is supported by Oregon Coalition for Safety and Savings, a diverse coalition led by the Partnership for Safety and Justice, that includes the students, business leaders, crime survivors, victims advocates, faith-leaders, and community corrections officers.
 
If the bill passes, some of the money we'd save would be re-invested in the public safety programs that communities need the most, addiction and mental health treatment, community-based survivor services, community corrections, and re-entry programs. But, committee members are meeting behind closed doors to consider removing the mandatory minimum reforms that will have the most impact on our public safety system. Legislators need to hear from you before it's too late to stay strong on sensible public safety reforms

Tell your legislators that we need sensible public safety reform now that reinvests in Oregon’s future!

Thanks for all you do,

Sami Alloy
Oregon Working Families

1) Partnership for Safety and Justice Bocian poll.

Join the WFP on Facebook 

We can't count on the big money crowd to fund what we do.  We count on you.  Contribute the Oregon Working Families Party today!

You are receiving this email because you are a supporter of Oregon Working Families Party. You are subscribed at this email address: tobias...@yahoo.com. To unsubscribe, please go here, or just respond to this email with the word unsubscribe and the address you wish to remove.

--
In solidarity,

Toby


Tobias Green
NROC Organizer
503-708-7667
tobias...@yahoo.com