Thursday, January 31, 2008
ADOPTING "NO PAROLE" REQUIRES PAYING FOR ITS CONSEQUENCES
The following editorial appeared in The Post and Courier. It makes sense to us as far as it goes.
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Adopting 'no parole' requires paying for its consequences
BY JON OZMINT
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Our state is tough on crime. We incarcerate a higher percentage of our population than 43 other states, yet we rank at the bottom in funding corrections.
A new proposal would get even tougher, eliminating parole and requiring virtually all inmates to serve 85 percent of their sentences. It's called Truth in Sentencing/no parole (TIS/no parole). The proposal is well meaning and intended to make our state safer. But, this 1980s idea has been tried here and elsewhere and it brings foreseeable consequences.
In 1984, Congress passed TIS/no parole, creating the fastest growing prison system in the world. From 1984 through 1990, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) doubled in size from 24,000 to 58,000 inmates. It doubled again in the 1990s, with 136,000 inmates in 1999. With 199,800 inmates, it is likely to double again in this decade. Since 1984, the BOP has been on a massive building spree. Unable to build fast enough, in 2000, BOP announced that it would build six prisons a year. The price tag: $1 billion annually. Still unable to keep up, BOP has 24,000 inmates in private prisons. The system is 30 percent over capacity and there is no end in sight.
Since passing limited TIS/no parole in 1994, North Carolina has also been on a building spree. In the past five years alone, it has built six prisons at a cost of $500 million.
Since Virginia passed TIS/no parole in 1995, it has opened 14 prisons, costing over $500 million. Expanding existing dorms cost an additional $99 million. Virginia added a private prison and a super-max prison to deal with the predictable increase in violence and problems created by TIS/no parole inmates. And Virginia's prison population is expected to expand from 38,000 inmates to 45,000 inmates in the next five years, so that seven more prisons will be needed.
Compare those jurisdictions to South Carolina. Lawmakers in Congress, and in Virginia and North Carolina recognize that TIS/no parole inmates are more dangerous, with little incentive to behave or rehabilitate. So in addition to funding construction, they fund prison operations at almost double our state's funding level. For example, this year Virginia will spend $1 billion on 38,000 inmates and 13,000 employees. By comparison, we will spend $350 million on 24,000 inmates and 5,700 employees. We have not built a prison since 1992 and we already have thousands of inmates triple-bunked.
Instead of simply copying TIS/no parole, we could improve on the idea. We could learn from experience and take a smarter and more comprehensive approach.
We could consider mandatory alternatives for the 45 percent of our inmates who have never committed a violent offense. Treatment, supervision and immediate consequences should be part of those sanctions. The attorney general's proposal for a "middle court" is a great idea that recognizes these needs.
We could eliminate the wasteful use of prison beds. We are the only state corrections department required to house inmates serving 91 days or more. Annually, we process 3,600 inmates serving less than one year and they occupy 950 prison beds, daily. Over 1,400 of those are sentenced for drug use or driving offenses.
We could change current statutes that classify crimes involving no violence, including many drug offenses, as violent crimes and TIS/no parole crimes.
Finally, we could improve existing TIS/no parole laws. Minimum service of 65 percent would satisfy the need for certainty in sentencing while also controlling growth, creating safer prisons, eliminating wasteful medical spending, restoring hope and increasing rehabilitation.
In the 1990s, states arbitrarily chose 85 percent as the minimum service for TIS/no parole. Congress encouraged this by offering prison construction funds to states that passed 85 percent TIS/no parole laws. Now, those funds are history, but state taxpayers are left with growing inmate populations and other costly and dangerous consequences.
TIS/no parole inmates are more dangerous and costly in prison and after release. Forty percent of our 24,000 inmates are serving TIS/no parole sentences. They cause a disproportionate share of problems, including escapes, gang activity, and violent assaults on staff and inmates. They have little incentive to behave or to rehabilitate because they cannot earn parole, good time or work/education credits. They require more staff and more special management cells. And they increase mental health and medical costs as inmates reach older ages in prison.
TIS/no parole has been tried. It is not a panacea. It explodes prison populations, and it does not stop crime. Twelve years after passing TIS/no parole, crime rates in Virginia are rising.
Before adopting TIS/no parole, we should be prepared to pay for all of the consequences of that policy. Alternatively, we could improve those ideas to eliminate some of the unintended consequences. At the very least, we should not explode our prison population until our current system is adequately funded and staffed.
Jon Ozmint is director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
The following editorial appeared in The Post and Courier. It makes sense to us as far as it goes.
_______________________________________________________________
Adopting 'no parole' requires paying for its consequences
BY JON OZMINT
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Our state is tough on crime. We incarcerate a higher percentage of our population than 43 other states, yet we rank at the bottom in funding corrections.
A new proposal would get even tougher, eliminating parole and requiring virtually all inmates to serve 85 percent of their sentences. It's called Truth in Sentencing/no parole (TIS/no parole). The proposal is well meaning and intended to make our state safer. But, this 1980s idea has been tried here and elsewhere and it brings foreseeable consequences.
In 1984, Congress passed TIS/no parole, creating the fastest growing prison system in the world. From 1984 through 1990, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) doubled in size from 24,000 to 58,000 inmates. It doubled again in the 1990s, with 136,000 inmates in 1999. With 199,800 inmates, it is likely to double again in this decade. Since 1984, the BOP has been on a massive building spree. Unable to build fast enough, in 2000, BOP announced that it would build six prisons a year. The price tag: $1 billion annually. Still unable to keep up, BOP has 24,000 inmates in private prisons. The system is 30 percent over capacity and there is no end in sight.
Since passing limited TIS/no parole in 1994, North Carolina has also been on a building spree. In the past five years alone, it has built six prisons at a cost of $500 million.
Since Virginia passed TIS/no parole in 1995, it has opened 14 prisons, costing over $500 million. Expanding existing dorms cost an additional $99 million. Virginia added a private prison and a super-max prison to deal with the predictable increase in violence and problems created by TIS/no parole inmates. And Virginia's prison population is expected to expand from 38,000 inmates to 45,000 inmates in the next five years, so that seven more prisons will be needed.
Compare those jurisdictions to South Carolina. Lawmakers in Congress, and in Virginia and North Carolina recognize that TIS/no parole inmates are more dangerous, with little incentive to behave or rehabilitate. So in addition to funding construction, they fund prison operations at almost double our state's funding level. For example, this year Virginia will spend $1 billion on 38,000 inmates and 13,000 employees. By comparison, we will spend $350 million on 24,000 inmates and 5,700 employees. We have not built a prison since 1992 and we already have thousands of inmates triple-bunked.
Instead of simply copying TIS/no parole, we could improve on the idea. We could learn from experience and take a smarter and more comprehensive approach.
We could consider mandatory alternatives for the 45 percent of our inmates who have never committed a violent offense. Treatment, supervision and immediate consequences should be part of those sanctions. The attorney general's proposal for a "middle court" is a great idea that recognizes these needs.
We could eliminate the wasteful use of prison beds. We are the only state corrections department required to house inmates serving 91 days or more. Annually, we process 3,600 inmates serving less than one year and they occupy 950 prison beds, daily. Over 1,400 of those are sentenced for drug use or driving offenses.
We could change current statutes that classify crimes involving no violence, including many drug offenses, as violent crimes and TIS/no parole crimes.
Finally, we could improve existing TIS/no parole laws. Minimum service of 65 percent would satisfy the need for certainty in sentencing while also controlling growth, creating safer prisons, eliminating wasteful medical spending, restoring hope and increasing rehabilitation.
In the 1990s, states arbitrarily chose 85 percent as the minimum service for TIS/no parole. Congress encouraged this by offering prison construction funds to states that passed 85 percent TIS/no parole laws. Now, those funds are history, but state taxpayers are left with growing inmate populations and other costly and dangerous consequences.
TIS/no parole inmates are more dangerous and costly in prison and after release. Forty percent of our 24,000 inmates are serving TIS/no parole sentences. They cause a disproportionate share of problems, including escapes, gang activity, and violent assaults on staff and inmates. They have little incentive to behave or to rehabilitate because they cannot earn parole, good time or work/education credits. They require more staff and more special management cells. And they increase mental health and medical costs as inmates reach older ages in prison.
TIS/no parole has been tried. It is not a panacea. It explodes prison populations, and it does not stop crime. Twelve years after passing TIS/no parole, crime rates in Virginia are rising.
Before adopting TIS/no parole, we should be prepared to pay for all of the consequences of that policy. Alternatively, we could improve those ideas to eliminate some of the unintended consequences. At the very least, we should not explode our prison population until our current system is adequately funded and staffed.
Jon Ozmint is director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
