Michigan — A record number of inmates in Michigan, 3,814, received GEDs last year, reported The Detroit News. Under a 1998 law, most Michigan inmates who enter prison without a high school diploma must earn a GED before they can be paroled. While many states require general education or offer incentives to pass the test, Michigan is unique in making GED a requirement for parole. Of Michigan’s $2 billion corrections budget, more than $32 million is spent annually on academic and vocational programs. “It’s one of the wisest ways that we spend taxpayer money in our department,” said John Cordell, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections. “Better educated individuals make better choices.”

Missouri — The Missouri Department of Social Services’ Division of Youth Services has been honored with the Innovations in American Government Award by Harvard University’s Ash Institute. The award is in recognition of the achievements of Missouri’s juvenile justice program, which seeks to rehabilitate young offenders by focusing on individual and group treatment in small group dormitory settings. More than 90 percent of youths participating in the program avoid further incarceration for three years or more after graduation. For more information, see the Ash Institute’s press release at http://content.knowledgeplex.org/streams/ksg/AshInstitute/09.09.08_DYS.pdf.

Pennsylvania — Gov. Ed Rendell signed a package of bills into law that allows releasing some prisoners early, reported the Philadelphia Inquirer. The bills look to rein in costs and reduce prison populations in overcrowded state and county prisons. One of the bills will give nonviolent offenders the option of early release in exchange for the completion of educational and job training programs, in addition to good behavior. The legislative package also will require that prisoners serving more than two-year sentences be housed in state prisons rather than county jails, which for years have struggled to keep up with the costs of housing longer-term inmates. Republican House Speaker Dennis M. O’Brien said the new laws represent “a new approach to criminal justice. … It will make the public safer, ensure that offenders receive services essential to break the cycle of crime, reduce duplication of efforts that waste taxpayer dollars and ensure that crime victims are treated fairly.”

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