This is an excerpt from the transcript of a speech Gov. Deval Patrick delivered last week at UMass Boston regarding 
new approaches to dealing with state prison inmates.
In the area of public safety, the equivalent example is the slogan, “tough on crime.” “Tough on crime” sounds so right. Think of the fear and harm it evokes, and the promise of swift and certain response. Who could possibly favor a policy that was not “tough on crime”? Being so-called “tough on crime” brought a raft of policy choices, in Massachusetts and across the country, that are well known to many of you in this room: “three strikes” and other mandatory minimum sentences; the elimination of programs to prepare inmates for eventual release; treating substance abuse as crimes. For a long time, “tough on crime” policies made good sound bites. But they have not made us safer. They have cost us a fortune. And they have contributed to the unwise and unnecessary devastation of entire communities and multiple generations.
In the past seven years, we have worked together to disenthrall ourselves of simplistic slogans. We think there is a more pragmatic, more effective and most efficient way to think about criminal justice, one that learns from the experience of the past, deals with the realities of today, and actually makes the public safer. I am proud of the progress we have made so far and I want to thank the many here who worked with us to deliver it.
We reduced mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug crimes and increased the ability of inmates to earn “good time” for inmate program participation.
This has contributed, over the past two years, to a 7 percent decrease in DOC’s inmate population, and a 13 percent decrease in the county jail population. That decrease will save almost $8 million in the coming fiscal year and eliminate the future need for 10,000 new prison bed-spaces, at a cost of $2 billion to build and billions of dollars to operate. This approach also means corrections officials can focus time, space and limited public dollars on violent offenders.
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