Pubdate: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 Source: Montgomery Advertiser (AL) Copyright: 2003sThe Advertiser Co. Contact: http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1088 Author: Mike Sherman Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) FIRST CUTS MAY FREE INMATES Gov. Bob Riley will ask lawmakers in a special session that will begin at noon Monday to expand the Pardons and Paroles Board to speed the release of 5,000-6,000 nonviolent offenders from state prisons and deeply cut other state agencies. In a Thursday news conference, Finance Director Drayton Nabers and the heads of public safety and public health agencies outlined budget cuts the governor will propose after voters rejected a $1.2 billion tax and accountability package Tuesday. The cuts would affect a broad range of services. Under the proposal, some state departments will be asked to cut budgets as much as 15 to 20 percent. The plan will mean fewer state troopers on the highways, cutbacks in nursing home care for the elderly and medical aid for low income residents, and fewer children provided health insurance. BUDGET IMPACT Here are some of the changes that could occur if the Legislature adopts Gov. Bob Riley's recommended state budgets, Finance Director Drayton Nabers and state agency heads said Thursday. Early paroles for 5,000 to 6,000 prisoners Freeze on enrollment in Children's Health Insurance Program (effective immediately) Closure of State Trooper training academy State troopers change to work week of four 10-hour days State troopers limited to 150 miles per day Layoffs of about 200 employees in the attorney general's office and district attorneys offices Delays in criminal trials Reduction in number of people eligible for Medicaid coverage in nursing homes Elimination of Medicaid coverage for eyeglasses New limits on prescription drug coverage for adult Medicaid recipients Reduction in restaurant inspections Elimination of flu vaccines at county health departments Cuts in cancer screening programs at county health departments Closure of some WIC offices Reduction in AIDS prescription drug program Cuts in flouridation assistance for local water systems Gov. Bob Riley also wants to reduce state trooper numbers and limit patrols The governor wants to expand the Pardons and Paroles Board from three members to seven to speed release of nonviolent prisoners from the overcrowded prison system. "The Parole Board is processing about 75-80 parolees a week at this point. We want to double that to about 200," Nabers said during the administration's first detailed public briefing on proposed budget cuts. Attorney General Bill Pryor said, "I don't see how you can release 5,000 offenders and expect that all of them will suddenly engage for the next year in lawful activity." He said 25 to 30 percent of Alabama inmates commit other crimes and return to prison within two years of release. Prosecution of crimes that now take a year would take 21/2to 3, if the cuts become effective, Pryor said. Pryor said 15 to 20 percent budget cuts would require 200 layoffs in the 1,200-person criminal justice system that includes his office and those of regional district attorneys. "As a law enforcement officer I think it is terrible," Pryor said. "It's a shame that we look like we are going backward. It would devastate law enforcement in Montgomery County, said Montgomery District Attorney Ellen Brooks. Randy Hillman, director of the Office of Prosecution Services, said money for the DAs is channeled through his office. "We are in line for an 18 percent cut. Any cut is devastating to us. No doubt it will wreak havoc on the DAs and the criminal justice system," Hillman said. Prison commissioner Donal Campbell said the releases are needed to ease pressure on a system that has grown by 1,000 prisoners a year for a decade and "poses a great threat to our employees, to the community and to the inmate population." Other recommended cuts would reduce Medicaid eligibility for nursing homes and limit reimbursements to health-care providers. The state Health Department's programs for uninsured children, and restaurant inspections also willbe cut. A recommended 15 to 20 percent cut in the Department of Public Safety will mean that there will be fewer State Troopers on the road, said Mike Coppage, director of the Department of Public Safety. If the cuts are adopted, the Selma Trooper Academy will close. A training class of 100 troopers scheduled for January will be canceled. A hiring freeze will be imposed; 52 driver license offices, two field offices and one trooper post will close. Troopers will go on a four-day work week, and the 319 troopers on the road will be limited to a patrol distance of 150 miles a day, Coppage said. State Health Officer Don Williamson called the proposed 15 percent cuts in the Department of Public Health "cataclysmic." He said the department immediately will freeze enrollment in the child health insurance program at the current 61,000 and allow attrition to reduce it to 50,000. "We will seek regulation changes that will move restaurant inspections from once every three months to once every four months," Williamson said. Multiple WIC sites will be closed, reducing availability of supplemental food for low-income women, infants and children, a hypertension program will end and a cervical cancer screening program will be reduced, Williamson said. "I'm very concerned because many of these cuts are going to be to the poor, to the middle-class and the lower-class people surrounding this area," said Connie Simington, a clerk in the WIC program at the Montgomery County Health Department. "If they're on a set salary, they depend on the Health Department because they can't go to outside private physicians for the necessary health care or medications." Simington has worked at the Health Department for two and a half years. Williamson said influenza vaccines will no longer be provided in county health departments, time for state approval of homeowners' septic tank installations will double, and $2 million for medication for people with HIV and AIDS will be cut in half. Medicaid director Mike Lewis said a general 2 percent cut could mean 3,000 fewer low-income seniors will be eligible for Medicaid-paid nursing home beds. That reduction would be phased in to avoid forcing the elderly out of nursing homes, Lewis said. Medicaid reimbursement to health-care providers, including physicians will be reduced, Lewis said. He said one-time federal funds will ease the cuts somewhat this year. "Our real devastation will come in 2005," he said. The cuts would be effective only if approved by lawmakers. Jeff Woodard, aide to House Speaker Seth Hammett, said the speaker will respond to budget cut proposals after he sees the formal spending plan. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom