Alaska is now spending more on prisons than its state university, a reversal of the state’s longtime practice, and the gap would widen under a draft budget being considered by the state legislature. Since 2015, when adjusted for inflation, Alaska has cut by 22.4% the amount it spends on the operations of all state agencies combined. The Alaska Department of Corrections is the only agency whose inflation-adjusted budget has grown during that period. Sen. Click Bishop, R-Fairbanks, called the current situation “sad.”
