Crime Bill Allocates $8.7 Billion for Prison Construction With Truth-in-Sentencing Requirements

As part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, the Clinton administration allocates $8.7 billion in federal grants for prison construction to states that enact “truth-in-sentencing” (TIS) laws requiring inmates convicted of violent crimes to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences before parole eligibility. This funding represented the largest federal investment in prison expansion in American history, creating powerful financial incentives for states to adopt harsher sentencing policies.

In response to this federal funding opportunity, eleven states adopted truth-in-sentencing laws in 1995 alone. By 1998, 27 states and the District of Columbia met the eligibility criteria for the grants, and between 1995 and 1999, thirty states introduced or amended laws to comply with the 85 percent requirement. By 1997, 69 percent of sentenced violent offenders were in states meeting the threshold, and over 90 percent faced at least a 50 percent minimum service requirement.

The provision helped fuel a unprecedented prison construction boom, with the number of state and federal adult correctional facilities rising 43 percent from 1990 to 2005. For a period in the 1990s, a new prison opened every 15 days on average. However, a 1998 GAO report found that federal incentives were “not a factor” in enacting truth-in-sentencing provisions in 12 of the 27 qualifying states, and “a key factor” in just four states, suggesting some states would have pursued these policies regardless of federal funding. The program fundamentally reshaped American criminal justice by using federal dollars to drive state-level incarceration expansion.