Pubdate: Wed, 03 Feb 2010
Source: Post and Courier, The (Charleston, SC)
Copyright: 2010 Evening Post Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.charleston.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/567
Note: Rarely prints LTEs received from outside its circulation area
Author: Yvonne Wenger

PANEL URGES CHANGES IN SENTENCING

Panel Urges Changes In Sentencing Prison Recommended For State's 
Violent Offenders, Alternative Routes For Others

COLUMBIA -- South Carolina prison beds should be reserved for the 
most violent offenders, the state's Sentencing Reform Commission 
recommended Tuesday.

Certain nonviolent offenders, such as drug users, should be given 
alternative sentences, including probation and community service, and 
geriatric and terminally ill inmates should be released to make room 
for murderers, drug traffickers and rapists, according to the 
commission's long-awaited report.

Such moves would save more than $92 million dollars in prison 
operations in the next five years and prevent the need to build a 
$317 million jailhouse, the report said. The savings could be shifted 
to the currently overwhelmed probation and parole system, but the 
money to keep a better watch on criminals out on the street won't be 
immediately available.

The report calls for the Legislature to adopt a package of 24 
recommendations that came from the commission's study of the upsurge 
in repeat offenders, the overcrowding of state and local jails, the 
increase in inmates incarcerated for nonviolent offenses, the lack of 
alternative sentences and the impact of the prolonged budget slump in 
South Carolina.

Key findings also include classifying 24 additional crimes as violent 
offenses and requiring probation and parole agents to perform 
specific risk assessments that evidence has found strongly indicate a 
person's likelihood to commit future crimes.

State Sen. Gerald Malloy, a Hartsville Democrat who led the 
commission through it's yearlong study, said he is optimistic that 
the Legislature can put significant reforms in place before its 
adjourn this summer.

"We can do better," he said. "We cannot afford to build new prisons 
in South Carolina, but we also can't afford not to keep our citizens safe."

Malloy said he is confident based on vetting the recommendations 
received by the commissioners, who included Republican and Democratic 
legislators, judges and Department of Corrections Director Jon Ozmint.

Furman University sociologist Paul Kooistra said overhauling the 
criminal justice system is complicated and requires politicians to 
step outside their comfort zone.

Politicians all want to be tough on crime, Kooistra said. And 
changing the way the state sentences criminals will be a tough sell 
with the public that is accustomed to crime featured on television 
shows and movies, he said.

"When people think about crime, they think about really bad, sick 
people doing really bad things," Kooistra said. "They are not going 
to think about low-level drug offenses or bicycle theft."

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R- Charleston, said he 
expects the public will be receptive to the proposed changes. The 
report does not suggest the state go easy on criminals; rather, it 
calls for practical changes to the system, he said.

"It requires some bold steps forward," he said.

Currently, the state's prisons hold 24,781 inmates. If the state does 
nothing to change the current system, the population is expected to 
increase to almost 28,000 by 2015.

Nearly 50 percent of the state's prison population is being held for 
nonviolent offenses, in part a result of the "war on drugs" from the 
1980s. Thirty years ago, drug offenders made up 6 percent of the 
population, compared with 20 percent in 2009.

Rep. Murrell Smith, a Sumter Republican who co-chaired the 
commission, said the state was trying to respond to the crack 
epidemic years ago, but as a result, sentences are a hodgepodge. The 
commission tried to take a holistic approach and bring consistency in 
sentencing, he said.

"I understand money is tight and that some of this is going to take 
money," he said. "But in the long run, if you institute some of these 
alternative procedures, you'll find this saves money and frees up bed 
space so we can be tough on violent offenders."

AT A GLANCE

The Sentencing Reform Commission recommended the Legislature make 24 
key changes to the criminal justice system that would save $92 
million on prison-operating costs over five years and avoid the cost 
of building a $317 million prison. The savings could be diverted 
toward probation and parole services while freeing up prison beds for 
violent offenders. Among the recommendations:

Assess inmates on probation and parole for antisocial behaviors, 
criminal friends, dysfunctional families and substance abuse and 
respond with treatment to reduce the risk that they will commit future crimes.

Classify 24 new offenses as violent crimes, including the following 
actions that result in death: detonating a bomb on Capitol grounds, 
boating under the influence and damaging airport equipment.

Put new requirements in place for the education and experience of 
officials within probation and parole services.

Mandate new supervision for inmates who are released from prison.

Release terminally ill and geriatric inmates at the petition of only 
the director of the Department of Corrections.

WHAT'S NEXT: Legislation will be introduced next week to enact each 
recommendation issued in the report.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart