Description: In this paper, Honorable Mention Essay for the Society of Actuaries' Entrepreneurial Actuaries Section 2010 Papers Competition, the author examines the rapidly increasing costs of maintaining the U.S. prison system and the fiscal pressures the federal and state governments are faced with, and proposes a plan for an early prisoner release program “with a rigorous, merit-based approach that can be expected to demonstrate favorable outcomes for the general public and the released prisoner.” This plan involves “an optimized process for evaluating the perils associated with freeing candidates eligible for early release - an individualized assessment and quantification of those risks…” The article goes on to describe the costs, benefits, risks, and critical success factors. The report includes two appendices.

Description: This column highlights the articles contained in the December 2009 issue of The Independent Consultant.

Description: This is an article about J. Bradley Murray, of Smart Tech Actuarial Consultants STAC, who provides actuarial and technology services to both the insurance companies who are actuaries' traditional marketplace, and to other kinds of businesses with non-traditional needs.