LANSING, Mich. - With one of the highest incarceration rates in the country and a budget that reflects it, Michigan state lawmakers are considering a plan that would allow prisoners to get credits for good behavior and have their sentences reduced by as much as 15 percent. The move would end Michigan's decade-old truth-in-sentencing law, which mandates that inmates must serve 100 percent of their minimum sentences. The Department of Corrections says it could save the state 100 million dollars.



Victims' rights advocates strongly oppose the plan, but Penny Ryder, co-director of American Friends Service Committee, says that with proper rehabilitation programs, the risk of re-offending is greatly reduced.



"Considering the fact that we are releasing more people from prison and we have so many people out of work, we kind of would have suspected that our crime rate would have kind of escalated a lot, and that has not happened. So, this truth-in-sentencing is really a waste of money."



Michigan's incarceration rate has been the fifth-highest in the country, but during the first half of this year, 3000 more prisoners were released than in the comparable period a year earlier. Many lawmakers want to save money with the proposed good behavior plan but, they say, not at the cost of violating victims' rights.



Michigan is one of just a few states that do not allow credits for good behavior. Ryder says such credits are not only a way to save money, but also make the prisoners safer.



"Statistically, it shows that when prisoners are given an incentive to behave, to do the programming they need and to put their 100 percent into that, they do much better. Number two, the insides of the prisons are much safer."



Ryder says that, despite popular belief, violent offenders are not likely to re-offend. She says those convicted of property and drug crimes are most likely to return to prison.