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As the national incarceration rate falls in tandem with crime, Wyoming’s prison population is steadily growing out of control. And as prison populations in Wyoming rise, so too does the cost. If the state continues on its current course, it will add 200 prisoners to the system by 2023, along with $50 million in expenses.

That cost might be palatable if the 200 residents being thrown behind bars were violent criminals — if their absence from society made us and our families safer.

But that’s simply not the case.

The majority of them will be nonviolent drug offenders, and most will be imprisoned for violating terms of their probation or parole. This is because at the root of Wyoming’s problem with recidivism is the widespread problem of substance abuse. When nonviolent offenders violate their terms of probation because they can’t stay clean, they’re sent back to prison.

And a person’s chances of being incarcerated again are much higher the longer they go without treatment or support. Most of the people who fail their probation do so in the early months of their term.