WVA MUST TAKE LONG LOOK AT PRISON TERMS

CHARLESTON - Faced with a rising convict population that only promises to
worsen in a few years, Military Affairs and Public Safety Secretary Joe
Martin says it's time West Virginia looked at prison sentences to ease
overcrowding. Martin told the Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional
Jail and Correctional Facility Authority in Sunday's start of interims that
the state locks up robbers an average of six years, while the national
average is half as long.

Over the next decade, he pointed out, a special study by George Washington
University shows the state will need 2,200 more beds to house prisoners.

"The reality is, we're going to run out of beds for criminals," Martin told
the panel.

Del. John Pino, D-Fayette, agreed the state needs a comprehensive review of
how it imposes sentences on each crime, such as drunken driving. But
lacking a committee quorum, Pino was unable to get a vote on his motion for
approving such a study.

"We need to look over the whole range in West Virginia," Martin said. "We
need to review our sentencing structure."

Corrections Commissioner Jim Rubenstein provided legislators with a graph
showing the state had 3,434 inmates as of last Thursday in state prisons,
besides 609 in regional jails. Overall, a second chart showed 2,084 in
regional jails, including 352 at the Beckley facility, which had an
original capacity of 288.

Before the meeting, Rubenstein said it could be months before a successor
is named to Warden Howard Painter at the Mount Olive Correctional Complex.
Painter retired late this summer after suffering a heart attack in March.

Martin said his top priority since Gov. Bob Wise appointed him to the job
is the public's safety, and his second one is making sure prisons are
adequately staffed. The latter goal has been aided by the Legislature's
willingness to raise the pay of correctional officers, but Martin suggested
the competition remains keen with surrounding states and federal
institutions, where paychecks are much more attractive.

Martin said he was eager to tackle the challenges the job poses but found
much of his attention diverted this summer in a massive recovery mission
prompted by massive flooding in southern West Virginia.

"I spent a tremendous amount of time in Fayette, Wyoming and McDowell
counties, working on floods," he recalled.