Weighing the obvious: prison or the Family Homes for people w/ mental health issues: Fam.Homes R taxpayer's bargain at $43/ day vs prison@ $80/ day

"In 1982, one in 60 adults in North Carolina was in the corrections system, which includes community supervision. In 2007, 25 years later, it was one in 38, the study said.

Nationally, the numbers have gone from one in 77 adults in the corrections system in 1982 to one in 31 in 2007....

One in 38 adults in North Carolina is either in prison, on probation or on parole, according to a study released yesterday....

It's the prison and jail costs that have rocketed, accounting for about 9 out of 10 dollars in new money spent on corrections since 1983 in the eight states with data from that long ago, the study said....

It costs about $80 a day to house an inmate, an average found by comparing data from 34 states...."

Let's see: the incarceration of people w/ mental health issues who live in Family Homes that take 95% of their disability checks, with the remainder made up by the DSS of the counties to create a monthly room and board of approx $1280/ person.

That's approximately $43/ day for interning people in the Family Homes. Since they function like jails, seems to me they're a better deal for the public---in terms of tax dollars----with a bit more freedom for the inmates.

That is one of the most sobering statistics I have ever seen.

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2009/mar/03/study-imprisonment-too-costly/news-local/