Pubdate: Wed, 19 Feb 2003
Source: Decatur Daily (AL)
Copyright: 2003 The Decatur Daily
Contact:  http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/index.shtml
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/696
Author: Clay Redden

ROBERTS: TOO MANY PRISONERS

State Senator Suggests Change To Alabama's Habitual Offender Law

MONTGOMERY-After listening to Alabama Department of Corrections 
Commissioner Donal Campbell describe prison overcrowding Tuesday, Sen. 
Tommy Ed Roberts has changed his mind about the state's sentencing policy.

Roberts, D-Hartselle, said the situation in Alabama's prisons has reached 
the point that "we can't keep throwing everyone in jail."

"I've been a part of that thinking, and it hasn't worked," said Roberts. 
"You've got to find a balance to where the prison population is reduced but 
also ensure the public that we're not turning violent criminals loose. 
Finding that balance is going to be the challenge."

Roberts said lawmakers should look at exempting nonviolent crimes from the 
Habitual Offender Act.

Under the current Habitual Offender Act, a person who has three prior 
felony convictions - violent or nonviolent - and is convicted of a 
subsequent Class A felony is sentenced to life in prison without parole. 
Roberts' comments came after Campbell told members of the Joint Legislative 
Budget Committee that additional funding and changes in sentencing policies 
are needed to ease overcrowding problems.

At the local level in Limestone County, Sheriff Mike Blakely is taking 
steps to keep nonviolent prisoners out of jail by using an electronic 
monitoring system. Up to 60 people are expected to participate. Judges will 
determine eligibility for the at-home arrest program which begins March 1.

Campbell asked lawmakers for $154 million in new revenue to run his 
department. Of that amount, $29.2 million is needed to keep the department 
afloat until the end of the fiscal year in September.

Federal Court Order

The prison system is under a federal court order to ease overcrowding at 
Tutwiler Prison for women in Wetumpka and a state court order to 
immediately spend $2.4 million to house inmates and accelerate parole hearings.

Adding to the problem is a request made Monday by the Alabama State 
Employees Association and prison wardens to intervene in the Tutwiler case 
because of unsafe working conditions in state prisons.

"In 1992, there were 2,192 correctional officers to handle 15,349 inmates," 
Campbell told members of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. "Today, we 
have 2,621 correctional officers - roughly an increase of 400 - and we have 
25,317 inmates.

Corrections Department officials didn't have similar 10-year figures 
immediately available for individual prisons. However, current figures from 
January show there were 247 correctional officers and 2,182 inmates at 
Limestone.

The facility is supposed to have 256 officers, a figure prison system 
officials said has changed little over the past several years. Divided 
between three shifts, each of the 247 officers at Limestone oversees 26 
inmates. That margin increases whenever an officer takes time off for 
vacation or sick leave.

When it opened in 1984, Limestone housed 874 inmates.

Despite the high inmate-to-officer ratio, Campbell - a former Tennessee 
prison commissioner who worked his way up the ranks from a correctional 
officer - described morale as good and said that the prison system's staff 
is "hanging in there."

"I don't hear that," said Rep. Tommy Carter, D-Elkmont, who attended 
Tuesday's meeting. "It's been a while since I talked to them, but when I 
talked to them morale wasn't good."

Campbell said the need for an additional $29.2 million this year is to pay 
personnel costs and benefits, cover increasing inmate health costs and get 
state inmates out of county jails.

Of the $125.8 million requested for 2004, some $60 million is for a new 
women's prison to alleviate overcrowding at Tutwiler.

Campbell agreed with a number of lawmakers who said more money alone isn't 
going to solve the overcrowding problem. A change in sentencing policies 
needs to be seriously examined, he said.

He said Tennessee reexamined its sentencing laws and reduced their prison 
overcrowding.

"We've got to look at options," said Carter. "We've got nonviolent people 
sitting in prisons that could be out working and paying taxes like you and me."

Campbell told lawmakers if they don't do something to address the 
overcrowding in the prison system, "someone else will," referring to the 
federal court.
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