Nixon wants to move nonviolent offenders to treatment centers, probation

JEFFERSON CITY, MO (MISSOURI DIGITAL NEWS) - Members of Missouri's executive, legislative and judicial branches are teaming up on a new project aimed at keeping nonviolent offenders out of prison.

Governor Jay Nixon and other top officials announced a plan they say will help reduce the costs of running the state's prisons.

A new bipartisan group is now looking for ways to put the state's nonviolent offenders in treatment centers and probation programs in order to keep them out of prison.

Nixon says similiar policies in Kansas, Arkansas and Kentucky have saved those states money.

"While the simple act of a crime and the simple act of a life might be one act at one point, this is a very complex social issue," Nixon says.

Nixon says he hopes proposed legislation will be ready this winter.

Elizabeth Hagedorn, Missouri Digital News

Posted in: Elizabeth Hagedorn,Jay Nixon,Missouri Digital News,prisons