Pubdate: Sat, 14 Jul 2001
Source: Kentucky Post (KY)
Copyright: 2001 Kentucky Post
Contact:  http://www.kypost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/661
Author: Courtney Kinney
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

PRISON POPULATION SWELLS

FRANKFORT - Harsher sentencing for violent criminals and a crack down on 
drug offenders has meant that Kentucky's inmate population has more than 
doubled in the last 10 years.

The number of people incarcerated in federal, state and local prisons and 
jails in Kentucky jumped from 13,948 in 1990 to 28,388 in 2000, according 
to Census figures released this week.

More prisoners doesn't necessarily mean crime rates have risen in the last 
decade, corrections officials say.

An increase in the general population does mean more crimes are committed, 
said Pamela Trautner, spokeswoman for the state Corrections Department. But 
the spike in inmate population can more likely be explained by recent laws 
that strictly penalize offenders, she said.

A 1998 law passed in Kentucky requires violent offenders to serve at least 
85 percent of their sentences before becoming eligible for parole. Before 
the law was passed, prisoners had to serve just half of their sentences to 
become eligible for parole.

"So basically that means that people are in for a longer period of time," 
Ms. Trautner said.

The state's 1998 crime bill also put more drug laws on the books, as well 
as requiring those who commit a Class D felony, such as fourth-offense 
drunk driving, to spend time in a county jail.

'There are more laws and many more people are serving time for offenses 
that before, weren't prosecuted," Ms. Trautner said.

The state Parole Board has contributed to the number of inmates remaining 
in prison by granting fewer and fewer paroles. A philosophical shift by the 
board in the 1990s led it to defer or deny parole in more cases, Ms. 
Trautner said.

The inmate population also has increased because there is more available 
prison space in Kentucky today then when the 1990 Census was taken.

"They have built more prisons. And if you build prisons, then you have to 
fill them up," said Ron Crouch of the Kentucky State Data Center.

The Corrections Department estimates it will need to accommodate about 
20,000 state prisoner s in 2009, Ms. Trautner said. Currently, there are 
about 15,000 state prisoners housed in state facilities or county jails.

Kentucky's increase in prison population is not a unique situation, 
officials said.

"It's consistent with what's occurring nationwide," said Kentucky Public 
Advocate Ernie Lewis.

But, he said, more stringent laws and sentences aren't necessarily a good 
thing.

"We are incarcerating a lot more people in this country than we used to," 
he said. "We're incarcerating more people than we need to."

Lewis said he would prefer a system that punishes those who need punishing 
but helps those who need treatment, like drug addicts.

"We aren't reserving incarceration for the most serious offender," he said.

"You don't have to incarcerate everybody who possesses a fourth of a gram 
of cocaine. There are things that are more sensible that will lead to his 
being a productive member of the community."

The census figures showed that 35 percent of jail and prison inmates in 
2000 were black - a n umber five times the proportion of blacks in the state.

Lewis attributes the disproportionate number of African-Americans behind 
bars to the rise of crack cocaine use in the 1980s and to the practice of 
racial profiling.

Police, he said, target poor, black neighborhoods, where crack cocaine use 
is rampant.

And, he said, the juvenile justice and circuit court systems treat 
minorities differently fro m whites.

"When you look at numbers of detention, more children of color are detained 
than white child ren for the same crime," he said.

(SIDEBAR)

Numbers climbing

Since 1990, thousands of inmate beds have been added in Kentucky, with more 
on the way:

The Federal Correctional Institution in Manchester, one of three federal 
institutions in the state, opened in 1992 and currently houses about 1,500 
inmates.

Two of the 12 state prisons now operating were built in the early 1990s, 
and other facilities have been expanded over the last decade.

The state will break ground on a new prison in Elliott County this fall, 
with plans to open it in 2004.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager