Pubdate: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 Source: State, The (SC) Copyright: 2002 The State Contact: http://www.thestate.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/426 Author: Clif LeBlanc, Staff Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) BILL TO STIFFEN SENTENCES COULD INCREASE COSTS Prison Agency Says Taxpayers Would Suffer; Supporters Of Legislation Disagree If South Carolina toughens its prison sentences according to a House of Representatives bill, it could cost taxpayers an additional $75 million a year to house inmates by the end of the decade, state projections show. Building prisons for them would cost an additional $70 million in 2005 alone, according to state Corrections Department figures. If Speaker David Wilkins' proposal to make new inmates serve at least 85 percent of their sentences becomes law, the yearly price tag could range from $2.3 million in 2004 to $75.3 million in 2010, the department estimates. Wilkins, a Greenville Republican, scoffs at the figures as inflated. He said South Carolinians want tougher sentences to feel safe, and they'll pay for it. But a USC prisons expert considers the legislation a bad idea at the wrong time. "It's still a phenomenal amount of money," said Joann Morton of the College of Criminal Justice. "Heck, we can't pay the bills we have now." The Corrections Department's budget was cut this year to $280 million from last year's $330 million because of state budget shortfalls. "Very little thought or research" has gone into the legislation that's close to passing, said Morton, who was a prison administrator for 12 years. Overall, the proposal could cost $340 million more to operate the corrections system by 2010, plus $248 million for building prisons, according to Corrections. The Senate approved its version of the "truth-in-sentencing" bill last week. A committee from both the Senate and the House is to iron out the differences. Wilkins predicts a bill will become law this year because this is the first time his proposal made it out of a Senate committee. Corrections officials estimate the 85 percent standard would have kept 6,500 inmates in prison 101/2 months longer if it had become law by June 30, 2000. Most nonviolent offenders currently serve 33 months, or 53 percent, of their sentences, according to the agency's analysis. The state would need more prison beds because the number of inmates would balloon by nearly 5,000 at the end of the decade, the projection shows. Wilkins and his supporters say the Corrections Department's numbers are wrong for the costs as well as the growth in the inmate population. Still, Wilkins, who's been fighting the issue for eight years, has no numbers to dispute the estimates from the Corrections Department. "I don't think it's going to skyrocket," Laura Hudson, head of the state Victim Assistance Network, said of the agency's estimate. "Every time we go in to do anything" to toughen prison sentences, critics say "it's going to bust the budget." Citing Wilkins' 1995 law that requires most violent criminals to serve 85 percent of their sentences, Hudson said, "It didn't the first time. We have not bankrupted the state." Public safety can't be measured in dollars, she said. Victims and victims' families just want to know exactly when offenders are going to get out of jail, Hudson said. Prisons director Gary Maynard stands by the projections. He wouldn't say whether he opposes the bill. But he said he would ask for any necessary funding. Gov. Jim Hodges supports precise sentences but won't decide whether to support the bill until he sees a final version, spokeswoman Cortney Owings said. Wilkins said he believes South Carolinians will pay to have a justice system they can understand. "I believe the criminal justice system in South Carolina is fraudulent," the speaker said. "The sentence does not mean what it says. I think South Carolinians want to be safe. We're a law-and-order state." Wilkins and Hudson dispute that the legislation would raise the prison population substantially. Judges would reduce their sentences because they would know about the new law, Wilkins said. "It will take the guesswork out of it," he said. "The sentences won't get longer." But defendants and victims will know exactly how long offenders will serve in prison, the speaker said. Morton, of USC, said it's an assumption that judges would change their sentencing patterns. Furthermore, she said, other states that passed truth-in-sentencing laws soon found that legislators started toughening penalties, which kept inmates in prison even longer. Lawmakers react to a particularly gruesome crime or are pressured by changes in federal law enforcement policy, Morton said. Washington's War on Drugs, for example, helped fill many state prisons, she said. South Carolina already has a high incarceration rate, she said. A study last year found the state puts 532 people in prison for every 100,000 residents. That ranked South Carolina sixth among 16 states in the Southeast. But the study by Southern Legislative Conference found the rise in prison population slowing. In 1997-98, it grew 4.2 percent. In 2000-01, it rose 1.2 percent. Also, the state spent an average of $15,945 per year to house each inmate, the study shows. That's $300 per year less than the regional average of $16,245 but well below Georgia's $18,184 and North Carolina's $23,232. In a cash-strapped state, money is better spent on education, said Inez Tenenbaum, who supervises primary and secondary schools. Tenenbaum, a Democrat, said her work with juvenile offenders showed her prisons are the right places for some lawbreakers. But Tenenbaum said she also learned that poor schooling is a common denominator in many young offenders. She would not take a position on Wilkins' legislation, but said, "Money spent on education directly impacts where children go to the juvenile-justice and later the adult-corrections system. "Over the long haul," she said, "spending money on schools makes more sense than spending money on prison cells." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake