To Cut Crowding, Bill Proposes Alternatives to Incarceration for Some COLUMBIA - Corrections Director Jon Ozmint says his agency needs alternatives to prison for some nonviolent offenders and greater flexibility on cutting sentences for good behavior. The alternatives are needed in part because lawmakers will not keep giving the prison system more money even though South Carolina will finish 2003 with 1,100 more inmates than the year before, Ozmint said. On behalf of Ozmint, House Speaker David Wilkins and three other lawmakers have prefiled a bill that would allow nonviolent offenders serving less than five years in prison to be eligible for programs like house arrest, electronic monitoring or daily supervision. [continues 636 words]
New Bill Would Apply To Nonviolent Offenders COLUMBIA--Corrections Director Jon Ozmint says his agency needs alternatives to prison for some nonviolent offenders and greater flexibility on cutting inmate's sentences for good behavior. The alternatives are needed in part because lawmakers will not keep giving the prison system more money even though South Carolina will finish 2003 with 1,100 more inmates than the year before, Ozmint said. On behalf of Ozmint, House Speaker David Wilkins and three other lawmakers have prefiled a bill that would allow nonviolent offenders serving less than five years in prison to be eligible for programs such as house arrest, electronic monitoring and daily supervision. [continues 614 words]
COLUMBIA - Kenneth Curtis never wanted to become famous and certainly didn't want to go to jail for being the guy who sells urine so people can beat drug tests. He just wanted to fight for privacy rights. But on Tuesday, Curtis will find himself before the state Supreme Court, asking the justices to throw out his conviction and six-month sentence for breaking a state law against selling urine. Prosecutors say the case is simple. Curtis knew the law and broke it when he sold urine and a kit containing a heat pack, tape and tubing so it appears a user is giving his own sample. The purchaser two years ago turned out to be an undercover State Law Enforcement Division agent. [continues 480 words]
Man Jailed For Selling Urine Wants Conviction, Sentence Overturned Kenneth Curtis never wanted to go to jail for being the guy who sells urine so people can beat drug tests. He just wanted to fight for privacy rights. But Curtis will find himself before the state Supreme Court today, asking justices to throw out his conviction and six-month sentence for breaking a state law against selling urine. Prosecutors say the case is simple: Curtis knew the law and broke it when he sold urine and a kit containing a heat pack, tape and tubing so it appears a user is giving his own sample. [continues 203 words]
In South Carolina, York County Leads In Number Of Pot Plants Seized YORK--Every itch of his chigger bites reminds investigator Rayford Ervin Jr. why 2003 has been a banner year for the illicit marijuana crop in the pastures of rural York County. What's been good for the pests -- bountiful spring and summer rains after years of drought -- has also been good for people who grow pot deep in the fields that back up to bustling Charlotte. "To grow marijuana, you've got to have sunlight, water, fertilizer and what we call tender loving care," said Ervin, part of a York County task force that has so far this year seized 8,400 pot plants with a street value of more than $21 million. [continues 489 words]
Attorney General Tours to Bolster USA Patriot Act COLUMBIA - U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft says America is winning both the war on terror and the war on crime in its own back yard. Ashcroft spoke to about 200 prosecutors, police officers and other law officials Wednesday as part of a tour to gain support for the enhanced enforcement tactics in the USA Patriot Act, which some have criticized for trampling on civil liberties. The Attorney General also wants to gain support for several Justice Department initiatives from cracking down on gun crimes to encouraging tougher prison sentences. [continues 297 words]
Some Say Reason For Prison Plan Is 'Horrendous' SALTERS (AP) -- Officials in struggling Williamsburg County see the new federal prison rising behind the pines along a lonely two-lane highway as the answer to the high unemployment level. But some black leaders wonder whether a county that is more than two-thirds black should tie its future to a system that locks up so many members of their race. The $110 million medium-security prison will hold about 1,150 inmates and is scheduled to open at the end of the year. It will bring more than 380 jobs, most of them paying well more than double the county's average personal income of $12,794, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons. [continues 457 words]
ANDERSON, S.C. - Two Upstate sheriffs and state agents are having a very public fight over cash and property seized from an alleged drug smuggler that could add up to millions of dollars. Anderson County Sheriff Gene Taylor has taken some of his colleagues to court, meaning the public will be privy to turf wars usually fought in private. A hearing started Tuesday and is scheduled to continue next month. Taylor is fighting with the Oconee County Sheriff's Office and the State Law Enforcement Division over the assets of Ronnie Burkhart. [continues 521 words]
600 S.C. voters answered survey 'We now have confirmation that the people of South Carolina support shifting state money from punishment to treatment.' Wyndi Anderson, S.C. Advocates for Pregnant Women A survey sponsored by women's rights groups says a majority of South Carolinians prefer treatment to prison for pregnant women who use drugs. The survey of 600 registered voters found that 39 percent of respondents supported getting the mother into a drug treatment program. Twenty-seven percent would make the treatment mandatory with the threat of jail time if it is not completed. Ten percent supported prison time. [continues 321 words]
COLUMBIA -- The Corrections Department says it either will have to run its budget in the red up to about $24 million this year or start releasing prisoners. Prison officials plan to present its dire budget scenario at Tuesday morning's meeting of the State Budget and Control Board. In a memo to the board, the agency suggests several money-saving options, including restarting a furlough program and emergency releases of nonviolent offenders, that could free up to 4,000 inmates. Another option would be to close one prison. But to avoid overcrowding at other prisons, the agency would have to release about 2,600 nonviolent inmates, according to the memo. [continues 619 words]
Attorneys Challenge Conviction Of Woman COLUMBIA - For the second time, attorneys will try to overturn a South Carolina law allowing prosecutors to charge pregnant women with homicide by child abuse if they kill their fetus by using cocaine. This time, the law is being challenged by Regina McKnight, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison after a jury took 10 minutes to convict her in the death of her stillborn daughter. Attorney C. Rauch Wise, who will argue McKnight's case before the state's high court Wednesday, said he doesn't understand how a state that struggles to provide drug treatment to the poor can justify such a harsh sentence to a woman who had named her daughter and begged nurses to be allowed to hold the tiny body. [continues 286 words]
COLUMBIA -- For the second time, attorneys will try to overturn a South Carolina law allowing prosecutors to charge pregnant women with homicide by child abuse if they kill their fetus by using cocaine. This time, the law is being challenged by Regina McKnight, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison after a jury took 10 minutes to convict her in the death of her stillborn daughter. Attorney C. Rauch Wise, who will argue McKnight's case before the state's high court Wednesday, said he doesn't understand how a state that struggles to provide drug treatment to the poor can justify such a harsh sentence to a woman who had named her daughter and begged nurses to be allowed to hold the tiny body. [continues 686 words]
Many S.C. Blacks Remain Distrustful Of Courts, Police CHESTER, S.C. --[Associated Press] Police Chief Anthony Staten wheels his police cruiser around the corner and past a row of deteriorating clapboard houses and trailers that a stiff breeze might topple. On a corner stand four young black men, hands in their pockets, eyes cast down as the chief slowly drives by on a weekday afternoon. "What do you think they are doing?" Staten asks. "Waiting to sell some drugs." Staten, who for a little more than three years has been police chief in this predominantly black city of almost 6,500, knows something about race and justice in South Carolina - a state where many blacks are still wary of the court system. The distrust is obvious as Staten, who is also black, patrols a low-rent district where the bright pastel paint on the houses peels and clashes with the rusted air conditioners poking out of the walls. [continues 968 words]
Technicality Cited By S.C. Justices; Fetal Abuse Issues Remain Unchanged The state Supreme Court overturned Brenda Peppers' conviction on charges she harmed her child by taking crack cocaine while pregnant. But Monday's ruling wasn't the complete victory the Greenwood County woman wanted. The justices unanimously agreed to toss aside Peppers' guilty plea to unlawful conduct toward a child because of a technicality, saying she only agreed to plead guilty if her case could be appealed to the high court. [continues 478 words]
COLUMBIA - The recent history of South Carolina prisons is the tale of two directors - one a tough Texan who whipped the system into shape but alienated his employees and the other an insider who soothed hard feelings but was too loyal to the men he worked alongside for nearly 30 years. A report on the state Corrections Department, written by two former FBI agents, says to understand the sex, drug and morale problems facing the prisons, you have to know the men who ran the system for nearly six years. Michael Moore was director of South Carolina's prisons for two years, leaving to become director of Florida's prisons in December 1998. Then Corrections Department veteran William "Doug" Catoe took over before being fired by Gov. Jim Hodges in January. The report on problems in the state's prisons was issued in April by agents Tommy Davis and Dodge Frederick. Frederick acted as interim director of prisons for about four months before Hodges hired former Oklahoma prison director Gary Maynard. "Over 28 years experience in prisons, I have learned where I fit," Maynard said. "And that would be somewhere between Mike Moore and Doug Catoe." Davis and Frederick's report said many employees never knew certain policies were in place. Hodges asked for the report in October after investigators verified nearly a dozen complaints of guards and prison employees having sex with inmates. [continues 529 words]
GREENWOOD - Brenda Peppers had already lost her daughter, born dead. In a coma after her labor, a crack-addicted Peppers struggled to live; doctors had to revive her four times in six weeks. Peppers has not smoked crack since her recovery. But nearly two years later, prosecutors charged her with abusing her unborn child by taking cocaine while pregnant. Peppers accepted a plea agreement at the time because she would only get two years' probation and could avoid the media attention of a trial. Now the 35-year-old Greenwood County woman is fighting the law she was convicted under because she thinks her battle can help other women. [continues 348 words]
Mom Fights Drug-Abuse Law In Court After Conviction In Death Of Unborn Child, Ex-Addict Wants To See Policy Change GREENWOOD -- Brenda Peppers had already lost her daughter, born dead. In a coma after her labor, a crack-addicted Peppers struggled to live and doctors had to revive her four times in six weeks. Peppers never smoked crack again after her miracle recovery. But nearly two years later, prosecutors charged her with abusing her unborn child by taking cocaine while pregnant. [continues 659 words]
A woman has been convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison for killing her unborn child by using crack cocaine during her pregnancy. The verdict marks the first time a woman in the United States has been found guilty of homicide after taking drugs during pregnancy, an advocate for the defendant claimed. The case also opens the door for prosecutors to charge women with neglect under other conditions, such as smoking during pregnancy, said Wyndi Anderson, executive director of the South Carolina Advocates for Pregnant Women. [continues 187 words]
