Pubdate: Sun, 21 Nov 1999 Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (AR) Copyright: 1999 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. Contact: 121 East Capitol Avenue, Little Rock, Arkansas, 72201 Website: http://www.ardemgaz.com/ Forum: http://www.ardemgaz.com/info/voices.html Author: Matthew Waite, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette DRUG CONVICTIONS INCREASING PRISON POPULATION Drug convictions are responsible for more inmates' presence in Arkansas Department of Correction system than any other type of crime, records show. Of the nearly 12,000 inmates housed in state prisons, 18.9 percent -- more than 2,250 prisoners -- are serving time for drug-related offenses, prison officials said. "Let's face it: Substance abuse is a big problem, and it's a big catalyst for criminal activity," said Correction Department spokesman Dina Tyler. The doubling of drug arrests around the state over the last few years has led to an ever-climbing population in Arkansas prisons. Tyler said the latest figure, 11,917, is a new record. Jeff Walker, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said the volume of drug cases and convictions is clogging county jails and the state prisons. For felony marijuana convictions, he said, judges are "sending them to prison for possession in herds." In the last 10 years, 823 people have been sentenced to an average of four years and three months in prison for having more than 10 pounds of marijuana when they were arrested, according to Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts sentencing information. In prison, Tyler said, 3,000 inmates a year go through drug treatment programs, varying from 30 days to nine months long. She said prison officials know that 38 percent of inmates will re-offend within three years, so treatment is a chance to keep people out of prison. "Our goal is we don't want to see them again," Tyler said. "They don't want to see us and we don't want to see them. We want them to go out and make it." But the vast majority of drug arrests are for misdemeanor possession. John Wesley Hall, a criminal defense attorney in Little Rock and a legal adviser for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said misdemeanor offenders in many counties aren't taken to jail, but given a citation to appear in court. First-time offenders are often given probation, Hall said, and their record is cleared if they complete a program dictated by the judge. "Small possession cases, nobody gets bent out of shape about," Hall said. At the Pulaski County jail, the state's busiest and most chronically overfilled, marijuana offenders are often released early to ease overcrowding. "They don't want them there in the first place," Hall said. "It's more trouble than it's worth. They only keep them because they have to." Police report that many of their marijuana arrests are offshoots of a larger drug raid. For instance, Benton County sheriff's spokesman Tom Brewster said that 70 percent to 80 percent of the inmates in that county's jail are confined because of methamphetamine, either directly or because they stole to get more of the drug. Hall said most marijuana charges that arise from crack house raids and methamphetamine lab busts are small change compared to the target drug. "It's a tag-along misdemeanor at that point," Hall said. "The marijuana charge is nothing at that point." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake