what does this mean, michael jacobson? what is the solution?uest: it is important to look at the very ability around the country. a lot of them above the average tend to be in the northeast. washington state is the one exception on the west coast. the real intent is not to look at the per prisoner cost and have the state of the public think about how we can make this particular per prisoner costs cheaper, and there are eight key reasons i say that. to run a good, safe, constitutional prison is an expensive proposition. 24 hours, seven day per week facilities with people covering every possible need including, for the population, a lot of physical and mental health needs. on a per prisoner basis, i do not think there's anything wrong, but the real issue is the bottom line. how much the state and taxpayers need to spend on prisons in full tally? we are of the opinion, and it is not just at vera, that we over- use the prisons and we have people in prison for too long for something that is not a threat to public safety and this is a call to examine

we'll ask these experts, michael jacobson and tom vierhile. captions produced by visual audio captioning www.visualaudiocaptioning.com anncr: creating a financial safety net can seem like an impossible goal. complicated. intimidating. something other people get to do. but once you take the first step. you'll find there's nothing standing in your way. metlife. i can do this. were revised this past year in order to meet the requirements of the low-carbiet. are you satisfied that the low-carb diet is truly cratering, it's on its way out? >> absolutely. i think that low-carb ran out of steam earlier this year. the product launches for low-carb and no-carb products peaked in the month of june and it's been kind of downhill ever since then. this is probably going to go down as one of the great fads in the food industry in probably the past 50 years. >> does that include the south beach diet, this death of low-carb fad diet, south beach diet, zone diet, are they also doomed to disaster? >> i don't know. i think they probably will end up as fads but s

michael jacobson, let me ask you this. is there a less expensive prisoner or is are there degrees of expense when it comes to your crime that they're in for and the age of the prisoner and the gender of the prisoner? >> you know, once you're in prison and, again, if you have high levels of, let's say, drug use and mental health issues, the expense will be higher because it costs a lot of money to deal with those problems. you know, once people are in prison, those institutions are responsible for all your needs. and the sicker you are, for instance, the more you'll cost. but everyone is more expensive. some are more expensive than others. i think your caller's point, though, a number of points there, but one of them is that it is true that the number of drug users in prison, drug possessor, or low-level dealers has increased dramatically. probably by about 400,000 or 500,000 people over the last 15 or 20 percent. one of the things about that population in general, especially the low level user or sellers, is that there is

and joining us from new york is michael jacobson.urrent executive director for the vera institute of justice. there is a new report about what really goes into the cost of prisons for states. can you tell us what is the headline from this report? >> guest: i think the overall headline is that everyone sort of had a since that prisons were expensive, but they're more expensive than most people imagine because there are so many costs. in a lot of states -- not every state -- that support prisons outside the prison budget. >> host: our average -- one of the stories that came out after your report did, that the annual average taxpayer cost in states where you looked at the cost of prisons, is about 31,000 to the taxpayer. does that surprise you? >> guest: right. it didn't surprise me a lot. i mean, i'd been working in the field for a long time so i know it's very expensive. i think it's important that the 31,000 is an average figure. there's a great deal of state variations. you have states in the south, like, louisiana, or kentucky, tha

and michael jacobson discusses a new state corrections department and the cost of incarceration.newsmakers -- ""washington journal," live on c-span. john cornyn's remarks are about 15 minutes. >> thank you very much. i am glad to see so many texans and other great americans here today. it is great to be with you. i want to start by thanking my friend and our friends at the american conservative union for hosting us. i want to thank all of you who are involved with cpac for what you do all year round. i will be brief. i am one of the last speakers standing between you and sarah palin. i want to talk about someone who enjoys his complete confidence. i am talking about attorney general eric holder. three years ago when i was on the senate judiciary committee, i was one of the two republicans who voted against his nomination. [applause] i have to confess. looking back on that vote today, it has to be one of the best votes i have cast in the united states senate. under eric holder, the justice department has been led by an arrogant, incompetent, dangerously ideological and transparent

president tomorrow, doug hotel -- holtz-ekin and the cost of incarceration in america's prisons, michael jacobsonformer new york city corrections commissioner, that's all tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. "news makers" is coming up next. thanks for joining us on this sunday. i hope you enjoyed the rest of weekend. have a great week ahead. [captions performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> next, "newsmakers" with jeff bingaman, and then a hearing with ben bernanke. after that, a house hearing on cyber security. >> this week >> jeff bingaman, a democrat of new mexico. two reporters to help us. elana schor

former correctional officer, michael jacobson discusses the cost of incarceration. >> here is that wonderful moment when the senator lott revealed his nostalgia for the state to write segregationist south. >> when strom thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. we are proud of it. >> josh marshall on the internet and his website its emergence into the breaking news business. >> the media ecosystem is such a different world than it was -- it's hard to believe that is 10 years ago. things like that happen all the time now. there are many big stories we have had over the last decade more and more. we have an editorial staff of 20 people so we are breaking stories right and left. the thing is it has almost become commonplace and it's not nearly as surprising today as it was back then. >> more tonight at 8:00 eastern and pacific. >> now, house intelligence committee hearing on national intelligence. this is about two and half hours. >> first, let me thank you for your service to the country and pass on our thanks to the men and women who do the real work in the intelligence business. please p