Pubdate: Wed, 19 Mar 2003
Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
Copyright: 2003 Lexington Herald-Leader
Contact:  http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/240
Author: John Cheves

CASH-STRAPPED STATE RELAXING TOUGH-ON-CRIME REGULATIONS

FRANKFORT - Prison sentences in Kentucky, which have grown longer for 
years, are expected to shrink in coming months as the state government runs 
short on cash.

The Kentucky Parole Board adopted a risk-assessment scoring system in 
January that makes it possible to grant parole to nearly half of the 
eligible inmates, up from one-third of the eligible inmates just a year ago.

Also, the General Assembly this month approved a bill to let prisoners work 
off part of their sentences through community service, possibly saving the 
Corrections Department more than $5 million a year.

This trend of shortened prison sentences -- in Kentucky and other 
revenue-starved states -- reverses a decade of tough-on-crime measures that 
led to soaring prison populations.

It also follows a public relations fiasco by Gov. Paul Patton this winter. 
Patton released nearly 900 prisoners months before their sentences expired 
to ease the state budget crunch. Several of them were rearrested on charges 
including rape and bank robbery. Patton hastily ended the furloughs.

However, Kentucky remains strapped for funds and pays an average $17,670 a 
year to hold each of its 16,000 prisoners, a population 60 percent greater 
than a decade ago.

If some inmates are judged a low recidivism risk and sent home early, that 
eases the burden on taxpayers and leaves more money to permanently lock up 
criminals who are truly dangerous, said Parole Board executive director 
Keith Hardison.

But prosecutors warn that crime rates sank in the 1990s precisely because 
more criminals were in prison. Cutting prisoners loose ahead of schedule 
shows disrespect to jury sentencing recommendations and erodes the 
principle of punishment, they said.

"Whoever our criminal-justice wise guys are, they apparently aren't 
concerned with people who violate the law being made to suffer the 
consequences of their actions," said Fayette Commonwealth's Attorney Ray 
Larson.

Other states close prisons

Many states that cracked down on crime during the 1990s, adding 
mandatory-minimum sentences and stricter parole guidelines, now face a 
budget crisis. Even the most conservative governors realize they cannot 
afford to keep locking up more criminals.

Indiana and Louisiana have repealed some of their stiffer sentencing laws 
for drug crimes and other non-violent offenses. Ohio, Illinois, Michigan 
and Massachusetts have closed prisons.

By contrast, the Kentucky Corrections Department's $310 million annual 
budget "was left pretty much intact" in this year's state budget, said 
department spokeswoman Lisa Lamb. No prison closings are planned, Lamb said.

Instead, Kentucky is focused on releasing its prisoners faster if they are 
determined to be a low risk for committing new crimes.

The Parole Board has adopted a risk-assessment form that analyzes parole 
candidates and awards points based on criteria including age, marital 
status, level of education, criminal record and behavior in prison. The 
most attractive parole candidates are older, married and enrolled in 
classes behind bars.

Previously, the nine-member board decided each inmate's parole request 
individually, without any uniform criteria, Hardison said.

Under the previous system, the board's judgment was increasingly 
conservative. During the last dozen years, board members denied the 
majority of parole requests. The average length of time served in prisons 
steadily rose from 11.5 months to 15.5 months.

And not everyone thought the board was fair, Hardison said. "There had been 
concerns expressed about consistency," he said. "Were we applying the same 
factors consistently to all inmates in all cases?"

Fairness was the reason for switching to a new system, not cost, Hardison 
said. But parole rates -- the percentage of prisoners eligible for parole 
who are released each year -- are swiftly rising.

In recent years, the parole rate hovered between 30 to 35 percent. In 
January, the parole rate was 47 percent; 554 felons were sent home before 
their sentences expired.

"Yes, the parole rate went up in January when this system came on line. The 
rate went up again in February," Hardison said. "But it's too early to say 
for certain to what degree the new system is responsible, or whether the 
trend will continue."

Going home early

At the Capitol this winter, legislators writing a tight state budget hoped 
to squeeze out a few million dollars by helping prisoners go home early.

Senate Bill 123, awaiting the governor's signature, would let prisoners 
reduce their sentences by one day for every 40 hours of community service 
work they perform. Inmates could not participate if they had been convicted 
of violent or sex crimes, or escape.

The bill also would halve the pay that inmates earn for their work, which 
now ranges from 80 cents to $2 a day.

The Corrections Department's budget is based in part on the expectation 
that 1,800 inmates a year will perform community service and cut their 
sentences, saving the state up to $5.2 million a year, said the bill's 
sponsor, Sen. Gary Tapp, R-Shelbyville.

Kenton Smith, president of the Kentucky Commonwealth's Attorneys 
Association, said he does not oppose Tapp's bill. But Smith said he does 
worry that prisoners working in the community have access to weapons and 
drugs, which they can smuggle into their cells.

"Anytime you have inmates coming and going from an institution, you 
absolutely see a rise in contraband," said Smith, a prosecutor in 
Breckinridge, Meade and Grayson counties.
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MAP posted-by: Tom