Matt Blunt Balances Budget on Backs of Violent, Drug-Abusing Criminals

At least, that's what the St. Louis Post-Dispatch would have us believe with this story: Drug program for prisoners will end:

By the end of next month, the Department of Corrections will eliminate the treatment program at the Jefferson City prison, where the state's toughest prisoners are housed. The department will focus rehabilitation efforts on less dangerous inmates who are more likely to be released sooner.

The move should save about $1 million of the $16.5 million Gov. Matt Blunt wants to cut from the department. Ten counselors, the program's director and a secretary will lose their jobs at the Jefferson City prison but be offered similar work at a prison in northwest Missouri, where the program will continue.

The article starts out with the typical anecdote of someone who successfully went through treatment, but doesn't mention any failures in the program. But those wouldn't tug at our heartstrings the same and rouse our outrage at a decline in government largesse.

Instead, Matt Blunt reallocates resources to programs where they might prove more effective: less violent criminals. The poor, soon-to-be-unemployed counselors will be offered jobs at the prison where the program will continue, so they're not unceremoniously walked out by security. They have to choose whether to move with the job or stay in Jefferson City.

So Matt Blunt trims one more million dollars from the state budget. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the program's administrators are sad to see it go, but aren't they always?