Let’s make Arizona safer
SB 1064 will increase earned release credits for some people convicted of drug and other nonviolent offenses. This policy will save Arizona taxpayers millions of dollars, boost the state’s economy, and begin to safely reduce the state’s dangerously high prison population, which is currently the fifth highest in the nation.
Arizona’s prison population has increased by a staggering 60% since 2000. This significant increase is due largely to the fact that Arizona is one of only three states that requires almost everyone in prison to serve 85% of their sentence.
This means incarcerated people in Arizona serve some of the longest sentences in the country – including serving forty percent longer sentences than the national average for drug crimes, and almost twice as long as the national average for non-violent property crimes. These long prison sentences come at a high cost to Arizona taxpayers who spend over a billion dollars a year on the state’s prison system.