Pubdate: Thu, 20 Feb 2003
Source: Oak Ridger (TN)
Copyright: 2003 The Oak Ridger
Contact:  http://www.oakridger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1146
Note: The Kingsport Times-News cited as source.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

CROWDED JAILS ARE A GROWING PROBLEM

Tough sentencing policies have begun to turn the tide against crime in 
Tennessee and across the nation.

But many jails are overcrowded and outdated. And, with the inmate 
population continuing to swell, the situation is becoming critical.

It is against this bleak backdrop that the Tennessee Department of 
Correction is proposing to cut the amount it pays local jails. The proposed 
change would place a $35 per day limit on the amount the state pays for 
housing state prisoners who are serving one-to six-year sentences.

The department calculates the measure would save the state approximately 
$30 million -- a "savings" local jails will be left to absorb. We can only 
hope that other departments of state government won't utilize similar 
tactics. The combined "savings" might bankrupt localities.

Cutting state funding for jail inmates comes at a time when Tennessee's 
criminal population is predicted to increase substantially. A report issued 
last year by the department of correction itself estimated that the state's 
inmate population will increase 30 percent in the next decade. There are 
roughly 22,000 men and 1,500 women incarcerated in state prisons, not 
counting state inmates serving time in local jails.

A healthy number of inmates at most jails are state prisoners being held 
here because the state has no room for them. In recent years, it's grown 
increasingly clear state lawmakers are more interested in passing popular 
laws that promise to lock criminals away than adequately funding the state 
prison system. Local jails have become the dumping grounds for state criminals.

If state lawmakers don't soon find the money to address Tennessee's growing 
prison population, the only real option left is to release convicts on an 
accelerated basis to free up space for the next batch.
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MAP posted-by: Jackl