The average amount of time Virginia prisoners spent behind bars nearly doubled over two decades, the second-highest increase in the nation, according to a new report.
The average Virginia offender released in 2009 had served 3.3 years in prison, a 91 percent jump from the 1.7 years the average offender released in 1990 had served, according to a report released Wednesday by the Pew Center on the States’ Public Safety Performance Project.
Nationwide, inmates released in 2009 served 36 percent longer prison terms than offenders released in 1990.
| Average time served by Virginia criminals (in years) | |||
| Offense | 1990 | 2009 | Percent change |
| Violent | 3.6 | 6.0 | 68 |
| Property | 1.6 | 2.7 | 62 |
| Drug | 1.3 | 2.2 | 72 |
| Overall | 1.7 | 3.3 | 91 |
“We’re talking about a significant increase in time served, and coming at significant cost to the states,” said Ryan King, a Pew research director.
Large increases in the percent of sentences prisoners actually served accounted for the bulk of Virginia’s increases, according to the report.
In 1994, sentencing-reform legislation in Virginia abolished parole and ended the state’s existing system for awarding good-behavior credit to inmates. The state’s “truth-in-sentencing” laws now require convicted felons to serve at least 85 percent of their prison terms.
In contrast, convicted murderers released in 1993, before that law was passed, had served only about a third of their sentences on average, according to data from the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission.
Such laws, coupled with parole boards reluctant to grant release, contributed to longer prison terms across the country, King said.
Of the 35 states studied, time served rose in 27 and dropped in eight. Maryland and the District did not provide data for the report. Florida was the only state where time served increased more than it did in Virginia, with a 166 percent jump.
In Virginia, the amount of time in custody rose 68 percent for violent offenders, 62 percent for those convicted of property crimes and 72 percent for drug offenders.
The Pew report estimates that those increases cost Virginia more than $518 million. And keeping more offenders in prison longer also strains prison resources, programs and administrators, King said.
The report noted that in recent years, states have been taking steps to curb the number of people incarcerated, diverting some nonviolent offenders to supervised release or treatment programs instead of prison.
