Economy Items

From the early 1970s into the new millennium, the U.S. prison population experienced unprecedented growth, which had a direct influence on state budgets. In recent years, however, lawmakers in nearly every state and from across the political spectrum have enacted new laws to reduce prison populations and spending. This report, which builds upon the information found in Vera’s 2012 publication The Price of Prisons: What Incarceration Costs Taxpayers, found that 13 states were successful in reducing both population and spending.

To bring some clarity to this bread-and-butter issue for incarcerated people, we analyzed commissary sales reports from state prison systems in Illinois, Massachusetts, and Washington. We chose these states because we were able to easily obtain commissary data, but conveniently, these three states also represent a decent cross section of prison systems, encompassing a variety of sizes and different types of commissary management.

The U.S. economy has been on a long, slow upward trend for eight years, but a Cornell economist predicts that – like all good things – the steady growth will soon come to an end, likely by the end of the year.

It won’t be a disastrous scenario like the 2009 recession, but rather a garden-variety reaction to the Federal Reserve raising interest rates and, in turn, interest-sensitive sectors cooling off, he said.

The October 2019 Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR) identifies the current key vulnerabilities in the global financial system as the rise in corporate debt burdens, increasing holdings of riskier and more illiquid assets by institutional investors, and growing reliance on external borrowing by emerging and frontier market economies.

Following a political standoff that briefly delayed his annual speech to the nation, President Donald Trump will deliver his second State of the Union address on Tuesday night. The speech comes amid a debate between Trump and congressional Democrats over border security – one that recently led to the longest federal government shutdown in history.

As Trump’s speech takes the spotlight, here’s a look at public opinion on important issues facing the country, drawn from Pew Research Center’s recent surveys.

The Economies Adding the Most to Global Growth in 2019

Global economics is effectively a numbers game.

As long as the data adds up to economic expansion on a worldwide level, it’s easy to keep the status quo rolling. Companies can shift resources to the growing segments, and investors can put capital where it can go to work.

At the end of the day, growth cures everything – it’s only when it dries up that things get hairy.

Breaking Down Global Growth in 2019

Some states shine in health care. Some soar in education. Some excel in both – or in much more. The Best States ranking of U.S. states draws on thousands of data points to measure how well states are performing for their citizens. In addition to health care and education, the metrics take into account a state’s economy, its roads, bridges, internet and other infrastructure, its public safety, the fiscal stability of state government, and the opportunity it affords its residents.

Emerging, developing economies’ growth to pick up to 4.6% in 2020 from 4% in 2019; expansion vulnerable to trade, financial disruptions

Global economic growth is forecast to ease to a weaker-than-expected 2.6% in 2019 before inching up to 2.7% in 2020. Growth in emerging market and developing economies is expected to stabilize next year as some countries move past periods of financial strain, but economic momentum remains weak.

Mandatory spending by the federal government totaled $4.6 trillion in 2020, of which $1.9 trillion was for Social Security and Medicare.

This site shows the monthly and quarterly US employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for 2019.

Discretionary spending by the federal government totaled $1.6 trillion in 2020, of which $714 billion was for national defense and $914 billion was for nondefense activities.

Revenues received by the federal government in 2020 totaled $3.4 trillion, of which $1.6 trillion was receipts from individual income taxes.

In 2019, state government revenues decreased 1.7 percent from the 2018 estimate of $2.71 trillion to $2.66 trillion. The major shares of revenue for state governments were taxes (40.6 percent), intergovernmental (26.6 percent), and insurance trust revenue (16.4 percent).

The federal deficit in 2020 was $3.1 trillion, equal to 14.9 percent of gross domestic product.

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in the fourth quarter of 2020, as real GDP for the nation increased at an annual rate of 4.3 percent, according to statistics released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The percent change in real GDP in the fourth quarter ranged from 9.9 percent in South Dakota to 1.2 percent in the District of Columbia (table 1).

CBO presents its projections of what federal deficits, debt, spending, and revenues would be for the next 30 years if current laws governing taxes and spending generally did not change.

Energy transition and the global economy

The high cost of calling home from prisons and jails gets a lot of attention in the press, but the industry’s practice of tacking on hidden fees is getting an increasing amount of attention from regulators and the savviest correctional facilities. These fees can be called by a variety of different names and can add up to significant costs to the families of people in prison. The problem got so bad that the companies were potentially making more from fees than from selling their product — phone calls.

Following its weakest performance since the global financial crisis, the world economy is poised for a modest rebound this year– if everything goes just right.

Hanging over this lethargic recovery are two other trends that raise questions about the course of economic growth: the unprecedented runup in debt worldwide, and the prolonged deceleration of productivity growth, which needs to pick up to bolster standards of living and poverty eradication.

In this document, the Commission continues to comprehensively reform inmate calling services rates to ensure just and reasonable rates for interstate and international inmate calling services. Specifically, the Commission proposes to lower the current interstate rate caps to $0.14 per minute for debit, prepaid, and collect calls from prisons and $0.16 per minute for debit, prepaid, and collect calls from jails. The Commission also proposes to cap rates for international inmate calling services, which remain uncapped today.

Visualizing the Top 50 Most Valuable Global Brands

For many brands, it has been a devastating year to say the least.

Over half of the most valuable global brands have experienced a decline in brand value, a measure that takes financial projections, brand roles in purchase decisions, and strengths against competitors into consideration. But where some have faltered, others have asserted their dominance and stepped up for their customers like never before.

Having a global pandemic steamroll its way through a state’s economy is no one’s good idea of enacting budgetary restraints. But facing reality is not optional. Texas has faced budget tightening in its corrections system before. So, legislators must address this situation in a similar fashion— by once again prioritizing finite resources while, this time, seeking to get a handle on a costly, aging prison population and reducing technical violations that undermine the entire purpose of community supervision in the first place.

Chances are that you believe you are in the middle class—nearly everyone in the United States does. Doctors and lawyers believe they are middle-class; so, too, do welders and waiters. In a 2015 Pew survey, only 10 percent of Americans said they considered themselves lower-class and just 1 percent thought they were upper-class.

Every state experienced an uptick in total personal income last year as historic gains in unemployment benefits, federal aid, and other public assistance drove the sharpest annual growth in two decades. Without government support, most states would have sustained declines in personal income—a key economic indicator—as the COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on business activity.

Check out previous Environmental Scans

The National Institute of Corrections publishes this compilation of resources each year as an overview of what research indicates to be the trends in the corrections industry each year.
Accession Number: (2018) 033176, (2019) 033431, (2020) 033563, (2021) 033670, (2022) 033086, (2023) 033087

Corrections Environmental Scan

Economy Items

The Price of Prisons: Examining State Spending Trends, 2010 - 2015

The Company Store: A Deeper Look at Prison Commissaries

U.S. economy’s current growth will peak in 2019

Global Financial Stability Report: Lower for Longer

State of the Union 2019: How Americans see major national issues

The Economies Adding the Most to Global Growth in 2019

Best States 2019: Ranking Performance Throughout All 50 States

Global Growth to Weaken to 2.6% in 2019, Substantial Risks Seen

Mandatory Spending in Fiscal Year 2020: An Infographic

Economy at a Glance - United States

Discretionary Spending in Fiscal Year 2020: An Infographic

Revenues in Fiscal Year 2020: An Infographic

Annual Survey of State Government Finances Summary: 2019

The Federal Budget in Fiscal Year 2020: An Infographic

Gross Domestic Product by State, 4th Quarter 2020 and Annual 2020 (Preliminary)

The 2020 Long-Term Budget Outlook

World Economic Situation and Prospects 2020

Since You Asked: Can Correctional Facilities Negotiate Phone Contracts That Prohibit Deposit Fees? (Yes! Many do.)

Global Economic Prospects: Slow Growth, Policy Challenges

Rates for Interstate Inmate Calling Services

The Top 50 Most Valuable Global Brands

Prisons and Penny-Pinching: Finding Budget Savings in the Time of COVID-19

Most Americans Consider Themselves Middle-Class. But Are They?

States’ 2020 Personal Income Growth Was Highest in 20 Years

Other NIC Microsites

National Institute of Corrections