Offenders with similar criminal histories who are adjudicated for the same current offense receive quite varied sentences. Sentencing should be more consistent. The current good time policy makes a mockery of prison sentences. Time served in prison should more accurately reflect the term of imprisonment imposed at sentencing. There is also a need to monitor prison population carefully.
Imprisonment is a costly sanction which can place heavy demands on public finances.
New Mexico needs to make sure that it does not place an unwarranted strain on state finances by simply building more prison beds. Intermediate sanctions should be used for less serious offenders who otherwise would take up prison beds. The Earned Time Act Offenders, especially violent offenders, will serve a greater proportion of their prison sentence. These legislative proposals would provide more prison time for violent and other serious offenders, but they would offset any dramatic increase in prison population by diverting some less serious offenders to alternative sanctions. The acts are best conceived as an interlinked set of proposals that would jointly provide solutions to the problems outlined previously.