Pubdate: Thu, 07 Feb 2002
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2002 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Cheryl W. Thompson

INCARCERATION POLICIES EASED, 2 REPORTS SAY

Some States Closing Prisons, Expanding Drug Treatment

More than a dozen states have passed sentencing and corrections reforms 
that are beginning to reverse three decades of "get tough" incarceration 
policies, according to two reports scheduled for release by advocacy groups 
today.

One study by the Sentencing Project, a Washington-based organization that 
promotes alternatives to imprisonment, found that lawmakers in four states 
either scaled back or reversed sentencing policies. It also found that five 
states expanded drug treatment as a sentencing option and seven states 
passed legislation to ease prison crowding.

A similar review by the Justice Policy Institute, which also opposes strict 
incarceration policies, found that tight budgets have impelled governors in 
Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and Florida to close prisons and prompted four 
other states to reduce prison populations. The report contends public 
support is shifting away from imprisonment of nonviolent offenders and 
toward prevention, rehabilitation and alternative sentencing.

The 1990s saw a huge increase in prison populations after the enactment of 
tough sentencing laws across the United States. More than 1.9 million 
people were in jails and prisons in 2000, according to a government report 
released in August 2001. States spent $38 billion on corrections in the 
last fiscal year, a 5.2 percent increase from the previous year, according 
to the Sentencing Project's report.

"The punishment-oriented war on drugs has contributed to a record prison 
population that still leaves many citizens dissatisfied with the level of 
crime and drug abuse," the report said.

In California, voters overwhelmingly approved a measure last year that 
would send anyone convicted of drug possession for the first or second time 
to court-ordered treatment. Proposition 36 also would allow a parolee who 
fails a drug test to be placed on probation and enrolled in a treatment 
program.

The measure may result in 24,000 people getting treatment instead of prison 
time and is expected to save the state $200 million a year, the report said.

Louisiana lawmakers passed a bill last year reducing sentences for certain 
drug and nonviolent crimes and eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for 
nonviolent crimes. The legislation also repeals a law that prohibits the 
consideration of parole for many "low-level nonviolent offenders" and 
softens the state's "three strikes" law.

Officials also have examined ways to cut prison costs while reducing crime, 
the report found. Mississippi law now allows inmates to earn time toward 
early release; Montana lawmakers passed a bill that diverts anyone 
convicted of four or more drunk-driving offenses to residential treatment 
programs; and Virginia provides early release to elderly inmates.
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