Pubdate: Sun, 06 Apr 2003 Source: Montgomery Advertiser (AL) Copyright: 2003sThe Advertiser Co. Contact: http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1088 Author: Mark Wilkerson Note: Mark D. Wilkerson, an attorney practicing in Montgomery, serves on the board of directors of Prison Fellowship Ministries. He served on the Governor's Emergency Prison Task Force in 1993. Alabama Voices ALTERNATIVES MUST BE USED TO ADDRESS PRISONS I thought I was pretty much immune to being shocked by news of senseless crimes. However, when someone called to tell me someone had tried to kill Dr. Cook, I was shaken. In an area where 90 percent of the population lives below the poverty level, Dr. Roseanne Cook is a godsend. Literally. Dr. Cook and Jane Kelly, a nurse practitioner, are nuns who provide medical care to Wilcox County residents, without regard to their patients' ability to pay. Dr. Cook even makes house calls. Why would anyone harm her? Could anything have been done to prevent it? The answer to those questions lie at the root of the dilemma facing Gov. Riley and lawmakers as they address Alabama's failing correctional system. Dr. Cook was assaulted after she pulled over on a country road to help a stranded motorist. Unknown to Dr. Cook, one of the occupants of the car was on parole after recently being released from Alabama's prison system. Dr. Cook was brutally beaten, bound, thrown in the trunk of her car and told she was going to die. Miraculously, the gunshots fired point blank into the trunk only grazed her face. She survived. The story of Dr. Cook's assault brought to mind the 1996 murder of Montgomery Police Sgt. J.R. Ward by a fleeing robbery suspect. Like one of Dr. Cook's assailants, Sgt. Ward's killer had a history of violence, having been convicted at age 19 of shooting at two police officers following another burglary. He was warehoused for 40 months in Alabama's prison system. He returned to society with no strings attached, probably more dangerous than when he entered prison. These two stories aren't unique. Offenders convicted of violent crimes are often released into the community inadequately prepared and without appropriate supervision, due to chronically overcrowded prisons and a criminal justice system that is simply overwhelmed by the number of offenders. With county jails also filled to capacity, there is often no room to hold dangerous offenders awaiting trial or transfer them to the state prison system. Overworked parole and probation officers, each responsible for hundreds of released offenders, simply cannot provide adequate supervision. Judges who would like to sentence nonviolent offenders to alternative punishment are hamstrung by the lack of funding for such programs. According to a recently released report from Alabama's Sentencing Commission, over the past three decades Alabama's prison population has grown by more than 600 percent. This explosion is due in large part to increased incarceration of nonviolent offenders, who now constitute 67 percent of those entering the state prison system. This is absurd. Our prisons are built for people we are afraid of, yet we are filling them with people we are simply mad at. Alabama is now facing critical decisions, and the public safety hangs in the balance. A federal judge recently described Tutwiler prison a "ticking time bomb" because of overcrowding and understaffing and ordered the state to come up with a solution. At the same time, the Montgomery County Circuit Court has ordered the state to more swiftly accept state inmates held in county jails. Meanwhile, the state is facing the worst financial crunch in modern history. There are encouraging signs that the current generation of state leaders are willing to address the problem head-on. At the urging of Attorney General Bill Pryor, the Legislature established the Sentencing Commission to help make the crucial distinctions as to who belongs in prison and who can be punished in the community without risking public safety. The commission has made far-reaching recommendations, including an increase in the dollar threshold for felony property crimes and the statewide expansion of community corrections programs. Gov. Riley reacted quickly to the Tutwiler litigation by transferring $1 million in emergency money to the Board of Pardons and Paroles to hire 28 parole officers and to conduct special hearings to parole nonviolent female inmates. At his request, the Legislature is also moving forward with an additional $1.9 million to expand community corrections programs so that judges have an alternative sanction for low-risk offenders and also to add needed prison beds. The legislation would also provide another $2.7 million for the state to contract with out-of-state entities to house approximately 300 inmates as a last resort to deal with immediate overcrowding demands. An expansion of community corrections is long overdue. In 1991, the Legislature passed the Alabama Community Punishment and Corrections Act of 1991, which allows the Department of Corrections to provide grants for local alternative sentencing programs for nonviolent offenders who would otherwise enter the state prison system. Despite very limited funding, the act has helped local programs such as Birmingham's successful TASC -- Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime - -- program to supervise the punishment of qualified, nonviolent offenders who would otherwise enter the state prison system. In Montgomery, local judges have managed to sustain other programs, such as a "drug court" in which qualifying participants are required to take regular drug tests, pay restitution, work a full-time job, get a driver's license, do 50 hours of community service work and pay $1,700 in fees before they can graduate. With substance abuse playing a role in the majority of criminal offenses, these types of programs have enormous potential. Other volunteers have helped nonviolent offenders to obtain employment, which allows them to pay restitution and become productive members of society. The state should also continue to encourage and facilitate involvement by faith-based groups in providing programming and support for prisoners and their families. Every day, scores of church volunteers work in Alabama prisons to provide needed life skill training and mentoring, in addition to religious programming. Through their work, faith-based honor dorms have been created in many Alabama prisons, providing a refuge for offenders seeking a new life. But much more could be done. Reserving scarce and expensive prison beds for dangerous offenders by diverting nonviolent offenders into community punishment and taking steps to reduce the recidivism rate are just two of many steps needed to making our communities safer places to live. However, they are steps we can't afford not to take if we are serious about protecting the public. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake