Pubdate: Sat, 2 Oct 2004 Source: Hartford Courant (CT) Copyright: 2004 The Hartford Courant Contact: http://www.ctnow.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/183 Author: Dwight F. Blint MORE FUNDS URGED FOR ALTERNATIVES TO PRISON The legislature's program review and investigations committee said lawmakers should increase funding for pretrial diversion and alternative sanction programs, and develop methods to evaluate their performance, by using money saved by reducing the prison population. In a study released this week, committee investigators found that the financing of such programs has not kept pace with demand and that criminal justice officials do not know how successful they have been at treating offenders. Pretrial diversion programs include alcohol and drug education, community service and violence education. Defendants are typically assigned to the programs as part of their court-set bail. Alternative sanction programs include day incarceration centers and residential treatment programs, as well as community service. Convicts can be sentenced to these programs instead of prison. Renee LaMark Muir, an analyst for the committee, said that for years diversion and alternative sanction programs have been little more than a release valve for the state's crowded prison system. But she said the recent passage of the state prison reform bill means that lawmakers will rely more heavily on those programs to modify the behavior of offenders and to help convicts successfully return to their communities. She said state officials want to make sure that the programs are working effectively and can meet the demands that will be placed on them. Appropriations committee members expect that millions of dollars will become available from the Department of Correction's budget over the next few years as the measures within the prison reform bill help reduce the state's prison population, she said. "They want to know where is the best place to put it," she said. LaMark Muir said although criminal justice officials have the data that would enable them to gauge the performance of their programs, those numbers are not kept in a manner that allows for easy evaluation. LaMark Muir's findings are the first part of a two-part study requested by the legislature's appropriations committee. The second phase of the study will compare the recidivism rate of inmates who have completed diversion and alternative sanctions programs against inmates who have not. "No one else has ever done a comprehensive study of this," LaMark Muir said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake