Growing prison populations affect state budgets.

WASHINGTON — The rising number of prisoners serving costly life terms across the country is complicating state officials' efforts to make dramatic cuts to large prison budgets, lawmakers and criminal justice officials said.

From 1984 to 2008, the number of offenders serving life terms quadrupled, from 34,000 to roughly 140,000, according to the most recent count by The Sentencing Project, which advocates alternatives to incarceration.

Cost-Benefit Analysis and Criminal Justice Policy Pdf:
http://thecrimereport.s3.amazonaws.com/2/b6/0/1215/balanced_justice.pdf
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-10-20/prison-life-sentence-budget/50846828/1