Pubdate: Fri, 06 Jul 2001
Source: Goldsboro News-Argus (NC)
Copyright: 2001, Goldsboro News-Argus
Contact:  http://www.newsargus.com/index.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/969
Author: Mike Rouse
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

CELL SHORTAGE: TOO MANY INMATES AND TOO FEW PRISONS

Sen. John Kerr was right. It's a tough issue.

Kerr, who has keen insight into the state's finances, was among those 
interviewed about a growing dilemma: North Carolina's jails and 
prisons are overfilled, and money needed to expand and operate them 
is nil.

There does not appear to be an ideal solution.

One is to keep fewer people in prison, perhaps by amending the 
Structured Sentencing Act to allow parole.

Another is simply to bite the bullet and build more prisons.

The Structured Sentencing Act allows judges to punish first-offenders 
without imposing active prison terms for many nonviolent crimes. But 
for subsequent offenses, prison terms must be served in full.

When it was passed in 1994, there was much tooth-gnashing by people 
who thought there should be a jail term for every offense. But time 
has shown that the act is not soft on crime. Our prisons are teeming, 
and a big increase in the number of prisoners is anticipated.

By 2010, the inmate population is expected to increase by 10,000. 
Kerr points out that housing that many more prisoners will cost the 
state a half-billion dollars a year.

Some law enforcement officials note that parole and probation 
officials are overworked with the caseloads they have. The more cases 
a probation officer has, the less supervision each gets. Hence, the 
prospect of further crime.

Kerr suggests weekend work camps for some violators, an idea that is 
worth considering. They might be administered at relatively low cost, 
and they might provide a way for offenders to earn money for 
restitution and costs.

The Goldsboro police chief, J.M. Warrick Jr., said that 90 percent of 
the cases that his department handles are related in some way to 
drugs -- largely thefts committed to buy them.

If such a majority of inmates are imprisoned for drug-related 
offenses, and if our prison population is growing so fast that we 
can't figure out what to do, and if drug use continues to be a big 
problem, all of that raises a question: Are we going about 
discouraging drug use and addiction in the right way?

There is no ideal solution, but the situation should be studied from 
all angles.

- --MIKE ROUSE
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MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe