When families in Illinois need to tighten their belts, cable TV is often one of the first expenses to go. A state nearing bankruptcy should do the same.
The Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) racked up a cable bill of $2,261,009 between July 2010 and June 2012. Popular channels included in this bill were MTV, CMT, Fox Sports, ESPN, BET, the Home Shopping Network, Speed and Spike TV.
Spending more than $2 million on cable TV for inmates is something Illinois can’t afford, especially considering the state’s already costly prison system. The taxpayer cost of prisons per inmate in Illinois ($38,268) is high relative to other states in the Midwest: Indiana ($14,823), Missouri ($22,350), Iowa ($32,925) and Wisconsin ($37,994).
In fact, Illinois spends more per inmate ($38,268) than it does per student in K-12 education ($11,663). ...More HERE
