I'm also not sure why you don't think pointing out that there were only three more prisoners in 2015 than in 2013 doesn't "accurately represent" what's going on. (The data you linked to stops at 2013, incidentally.) What is misleading is the "each prisoner costs the state $60,000 a year" claim that gets tossed around. It's true that you get this figure if you divide the DOC budget by the number of inmates. But most of the budget goes to fixed costs. Letting 100 people out doesn't mean the state will get $6 million to spend on something else, and locking up another person doesn't mean the state has to write a check for $60,000. What actually matters, from a policy perspective, is the marginal cost of each additional prisoner. I'm not sure anyone's bothered to calculate that, but it's a lot less than 60 grand.