EXiT Policy Aim 7

 South Carolina (2010)

As part of the 2010 Sentencing Reform Act (SB 1154), South Carolina approved enhancements to the use of administrative sanctions as an alternative to incarceration for technical violations. Following the law’s implementation, the use of administrative responses in lieu of incarceration increased 42 percent between 2010 and 2015. People who began supervision after 2010 were 33 percent less likely to be incarcerated or reincarcerated after one year than those who began supervision before the reforms (The Pew Charitable Trusts, 2019). By 2018, the number of prison admissions for revocations was down by more than 50 percent from 2010. The state saved an estimated $39 million between fiscal year 2010 and 2015 from reduced revocations. Over this same five-year span, property crime rates in South Carolina fell by more than 15 percent (The Pew Charitable Trusts, 2019).

Idaho (2013)

In 2013, more than 40 percent of Idaho’s prison population comprised people whose probation or parole supervision had been revoked (The Council of State Governments, 2014). The state thus authorized a matrix of graduated administrative sanctions and rewards to be used in response to violations of supervision conditions (The Pew Charitable Trusts, 2019).

Louisiana (2017)

Louisiana’s 2017 JRI reform package eliminated the use of jail as a sanction for first and second low-level violations and modified caps on revocation. The current law now caps revocation at 15, 30, and 45 days for the first, second, and subsequent incarceration sanctions, respectively. As a result, the state projects an estimated $262 million in cost savings flowing from a 10 percent reduction in the prison population and a 12 percent decline in its supervised population over the next decade (The Pew Charitable Trusts, 2018).

Missouri

Missouri statutorily caps incarceration for first-time technical violations at 48 hours. Although longer periods of detention are lawful for subsequent violations, the state caps total incarceration for all violations at 360 hours (15 days) per year (The Pew Charitable Trusts, 2020).

Alaska

Alaska caps revocations at 3, 5, and 10 days for first, second, and third sanctions, respectively, and up to the remainder of the probationary term for subsequent sanctions (AK Stat § 12.55.110 2018).

New York (2021)

NYS’ implementation of the Less Is More Act will end automatic reincarceration for certain technical violations and will set limits on periods of incarceration for technical violations.