Recidivism cited for sentencing reforms

More than 40 percent of ex-convicts commit crimes within three years of their release and wind up back behind bars, despite billions in taxpayer dollars spent on prison systems that are supposed to help rehabilitate them, according to a study released Wednesday.

The study by the Pew Center on the States concluded there was only marginal improvement in the nation’s recidivism rate even as spending on corrections departments has increased to about $52 billion annually from around $30 billion a decade ago.

About 43 percent of prisoners who were let out in 2004 were sent back to prison by 2007, either for a new crime or violating the conditions of their release, the study found. That number was down from 45 percent during a similar period beginning in 1999.