Pubdate: Wed, 29 Jan 2003
Source: Leaf-Chronicle, The (US TN)
Copyright: 2003, The Leaf-Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.theleafchronicle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1601

STATE NEEDS MORE PRISONS

Local Jail Could Be Filled To Capacity In Just 10 Years

The state of Tennessee needs to suck it up and build more prisons to house 
state inmates. Local communities such as Montgomery County shouldn't 
continue to be stuck with the financial burden of looking after inmates who 
actually should be in state lockup.

Before leaving office, then-Gov. Don Sundquist recommended that the state 
build a prison of 1,400 to 1,600 beds in Weakley County and add 700-900 
beds to a prison in Bledsoe County.

Even that won't be enough if current procedures and trends continue.

Correction officials estimate the state will need 7,097 more beds by the 
end of 2011. That's at least partly due to the decline in the percentage of 
felons receiving parole, from 34.9 percent in 1995 to 24.7 percent as of 
last August.

If the citizens of this state want to keep inmates incarcerated for a 
longer period of time, then we all must pay for it rather than trying to 
pass the financial obligation down to counties such as ours.

For each state inmate serving time in the Montgomery County jail, the cost 
is $53 daily. Unfortunately, however, the state has capped reimbursements 
to the local jails at $35 daily. And with the growing state inmate 
population, county officials fear that the situation only is going to get 
worse.

The county jail is undergoing an expansion that will put capacity at 936 
beds. County commissioners approved the expansion under the assumption that 
it would take care of local needs through 2025. The county has been under a 
federal magistrate's order to limit the number of prisoners in the current 
jail.

If state trends continue, with Tennessee dumping inmates on the counties, 
even with the expansion, the local jail could be filled to capacity in just 
10 years.

Along with providing roads and bridges and helping to fund the schools, 
among the basic obligations of the state is maintaining prisons. Tennessee 
must stop passing the buck to the counties. Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen 
needs to affirm Sundquist's recommendation for the prison expansions, and 
the Legislature must follow through with the funding -- it may not be 
enough, but it would be a start.
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MAP posted-by: Beth